By ADAM ZAGORIA
Before transferring to Roselle Catholic High School from Plainfield after his sophomore season, Jamarques Lawrence didn’t have a single Division 1 scholarship offer.
But since coming over to the Jersey powerhouse, the 6-foot-3, 185-pound Lawrence has seen his profile rise significantly.
This summer while running with the NY Jayhawks on the Adidas circuit Lawrence picked up his first scholarship offer from Fairfield, and later added offers from California, Wichita State, Virginia Tech, UMass, St. Bonaventure, Merrimack, Manhattan and Jacksonville.
More recently he has added offers from Nebraska, Boston College, DePaul and Wake Forest.
“It’s surprising, but I worked for it though,” the Class of 22 guard said Wednesday by phone.
Lawrence now has a pair of visits planned to Wake Forest (Sept. 24) and Nebraska (Oct. 1) and may also visit DePaul after that.
Wake coach Steve Forbes loves Lawrence’s game and the Wake staff has been into Roselle Catholic several times in recent weeks.
“They love me, they just said they need me to come in there and score, whatever I need to do,” Lawrence said. “I’ll have the ball in my hands, they said I’ll play as a freshman.
“[Coach Forbes] said he liked my story of how I didn’t any offers to me having whatever I have now.”
Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg and assistant Matt Abdelmassih were also recently into RC for Class of 2023 point guard Simeon Wilcher and Lawrence. Wilcher, a 6-5 five-star who is being courted by Oregon, North Carolina, Syracuse and others, will visit Nebraska the weekend of Oct. 1 with Lawrence. Wilcher, whose older brother C.J. Wilcher plays for Nebraska, will also visit UNC the weekend of Oct. 8.
“[Coach Hoiberg] said he just really liked how I can shoot the ball,” Lawrence said.
“Besides shooting, just me being a leader, I get teammates involved a lot. Once thing I worked on is just using my voice and putting my teammates in position to be successful.”
DePaul assistant Bino Ranson has also been into RC for Lawrence and reportedly loves him.
“I’m trying to set up DePaul that next following weekend [Oct. 8],” Lawrence said.
Seton Hall assistant Duane Woodward is also expected to see Lawrence during an open gym this week.
As for a timetable on a decision, Lawrence said: “I think I’m going to be done with visits after DePaul and then maybe announce my top schools.”
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