Check out our interview with three of the top players in North Jersey who are signing in the early signing period: Tamir Jackson of St. Benedict’s Prep in Newark, who is headed to Rice; Lance Brown out of Paterson Catholic, who committed to Fordham; and Karon Abraham of Paterson Eastside, who will play at Robert Morris.
They talked about the challenges of coming out of an inner-city like Paterson and also the challenges inherent in the recruiting process, where college coaches tell you all kinds of things to try to get you to sign with them.
The 6-foot-1 Jackson has a fascinating story. He initially committed to UAB, then decommitted when the felt it wasn’t the right fit for him and later signed with Rice. Still, Jackson said his father continued to get calls from major programs, including UCLA, Texas, UConn, Memphis, Miami and Providence.
“I told them I’m going to Rice,” he said.
For Tom Konchalski’s thoughts on Jackson and other top Jersey recruits, go here.
Also, Jerry Carino of the Courier News has a short feature on St. Joseph’s commit Carl Baptiste of Hunterdon High School.
“I’m real excited. I can’t wait,” said the 6-foot-8, 240-pound Baptiste, who chose Saint Joseph’s over La Salle and Delaware. “I’m excited for my high school season this year, and I’m really excited to get working and be able to play at that high level.”
Baptiste joins Justin Crosgile of Wayne (NJ) DePaul CAtholic and David Bruce of Linden in Phil Martelli’s recruiting class. Both of those commits were broken here at ZAGSBLOG.
ypaterson / November 13, 2008
it was great for you to do interviews with these three young guys. they get limited love in the basketball community and i think we are going to be hearing a lot from them in coming years.
tamir is discussed because he is at st. benedicts which is at a national power but if someone from outside the northeast looked at rivals or espnu basketball recruiting they would think tristan thompson is the heart and soul of st. benedicts. he’s not! no knock on the kid but tamir was the heart and soul last year. i think tom konchalski did a great job discussing tamirs value to the grey bees in the interview you did with him. he will have a tremendous opportunity to lead the rice program into the national spotlight with the pieces coach braun is puting in place.
Lance browns best basketball is definitely ahead of him. no high school fan outside of the northeast knows about this kid. even on most sites they still talk about “paterson catholic and fuquan edwin coming into town”. rivals doesnt even discuss this kid but dave telep and mike sullivan have done some work on him recently. jio fontain and jared grasso did a great job getting this kid. grasso is a great at evaluating players! he has put together a strong recruiting class in 2008 and 2009. keep you eyes on the bronx!
karon abraham really blew up this summer but has been known in jersey for years. plays hard as hell on both ends of the floor and will be great for mike rice at rmu. when he was in vegas he went against the best competition in the super pools and averaged over twenty points. it is great to see this young man get an opportunity because he deserves it. he is the best player going into the nec this year!
these young men dont need the press now but believe me in the long run they will get enough of it. i really appreciate you putting them on your blog.
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