By ALEX KLINE
Shabazz Muhammad, a 6-foot-5 shooting guard from Bishop Gorman in Nevada, has picked up another offer. This one is from the national champion Duke Blue Devils. Muhammad, who reclassified from the 2011 class into 2012, is ranked 8th in the country in that class by Rivals.com.
About a week ago, the sophomore predicted Duke would offer him soon. As of now, his offers include “Arizona, Arizona State, Duke, Louisville, Kansas, Kentucky, USC, Texas, and Memphis.”
**UPDATE: Muhammad expects to get a formal offer from North Carolina in mid-June, per sources.
Rodney Purvis ’13, a 6-3 point guard from Upper Room Christian in North Carolina, is making a big name for himself on the court this spring. Purvis, who is arguably one of the top prospects in his class, already has offers from North Carolina Central, VCU, and Xavier. On Monday, the freshman landed his biggest offer yet.
“Coach [Jerome] Tang and Baylor just offered me”, proclaimed an excited Purvis. Along with the four offers, Rodney is garnering interest from, “Tennessee, Baylor, Xavier, Alabama, Florida State, Florida, Ohio State and Texas.” An x-factor in this young man’s recruitment may be Kentucky superstar John Wall. The two are very close and Wall is Purvis’ role model.
Alex Murphy ’12, a 6-foot-8 power forward from St. Mark’s in Massachusetts, took advantage of playing in the Bob Gibbons TOC down in North Carolina this weekend. Not only did Murphy and the New England Playaz finish the weekend 5-1, but Murphy was able to take an unofficial visit to Duke Monday, where he picked up a scholarship offer. Murphy, who holds 18 offers, is being recruited all over the country.
Xavier Johnson ’12, a 6-foot-6 small forward from Chaparral in California, just came back from Adidas Nations and is a hot commodity on both coasts. Johnson, who is being heavily by schools on both the East and West coast, possesses offers from, “USC, UCLA, and San Diego State.” The other schools targeting him are, “UNLV, Georgetown, Stanford, Arizona State, Syracuse, Texas, and Washington.” Look for Johnson’s recruiting to increase this summer.
Peter Jurkin ’12, a 7-foot center from United Faith Christian Academy in North Carolina, is developing into a big threat down low. Jurkin, who is originally from the Sudan, has three offers so far from, “Clemson, Indiana, and South Carolina.” As his production grows, watch out for many more teams to jump in and snag this beast.
Kevin Johnson ’11, a 6-foot-8 center from Taft in California, is down to four schools. Johnson’s final four include, “USC, Kentucky, Illinois, and Boston College.” Johnson, one of the top 150 players in the country, according to Rivals.com, is, “going to take the process slow.” We will see if any other schools jump in as it is still quite early.
J-Mychal Reese ’12, a 6-foot-1 shooting guard from Bryan in Texas, has a list of nine schools. Reese lists, “Kansas, North Carolina, Texas, Texas A&M, Baylor, Oklahoma State, Villanova, UConn, and Memphis,” as his schools. Other than some camps, Reese plans to take his recruiting slowly and see how everything goes this summer.
Michigan redshirt junior Anthony Wright will graduate from Michigan this week but has decided to apply for a fifth year of eligibility and to transfer.
“I’m transferring,” he said. “They wouldn’t grant my fifth year so I’m getting looks from schools now and D1 schools, too, because I’m graduating in 3 weeks.”
Wright, who played for Coach Steve Smith at Oak Hill, says he will, “take an unofficial visit to Toledo on Friday.” Wright came off the bench for the Wolverines this year and averaged 1.4 points per game and 1.1 rebounds per game.
