GREENBURGH, N.Y. — At the beginning of his junior season at Spring Valley (N.Y.) High School, Rickey McGill made a verbal pledge to Manhattan and head coach Steve Masiello.
The 6-foot-2 combo guard thought his college plans were over and done with.
But after Masiello appeared to be headed to South Florida this spring, only to return to Manhattan and be put on unpaid leave because it was revealed during a background check he hadn’t graduated from Kentucky, McGill had second thoughts about his future and opted to decommit.
“I was kind of upset because I committed to play for him and he tried to leave,” the 6-foot-2 McGill told SNY.tv Thursday at the Frankie Williams Charity Classic.
At this stage, McGill remains open in his recruitment and has received an offer from Drexel and interest from Temple and George Washington.
“GW and Temple are all over the kid,” Andy Borman, McGill’s coach with the House of Sports AAU program, told SNY.tv. “He’s playing that way. His upside is A-10 to low-high-major.”
With the news that Masiello has completed his degree work at Kentucky and is on pace to graduate in August, McGill said he would welcome an opportunity to speak with the Manhattan coach once more.
“Yeah, I might call him one of these days and try to talk to him,” McGill said. “They’re still on my mind because that was like family so they still on my mind.”
Manhattan still has four commits in the 2014 class, but Borman said Masiello will have to work to get McGill to recommit if that’s what he wants.
“The big-time question that needs to be answered is what is Masiello’s paln for the next 4-5 years,” Borman said. “That answer is going to detemrine a lot of whether he recommits or not.”
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