Rutgers on Monday officially announced the signings of 6-foot-7 forward Jonathan Mitchell, a Florida transfer, and 6-9 center Greg Echenique of St. Benedict’s Prep in Newark.
Both commitments were previously reported here at ZAGSBLOG.
Mitchell and Echenique join McDonald’s, Parade and USA Today All-American Mike Rosario of St. Anthony, swingman Pat Jackson of Brooklyn Boys & Girls and big man Christian Morris of South Kent (Conn.).
“Needless to say, we are extremely pleased that Greg and Jonathan will continue their educations at the state university and become members of the Rutgers basketball family,” Rutgers head coach Fred Hill said. “Their additions to our program are significant steps forward in our mission to compete for a Big East and National Championship.”
Echenique averaged 11.2 points, 9.2 rebounds and 3.3 blocks this season to earn All-State honors for a St. Ben’s team that finished 24-1 and ranked No. 2 nationally by USA Today behind No. 1 St. Anthony. He is ranked No. 9 in the Class of 2009 by ESPN. Last summer he led the Venezuelan Junior National Team to a second-place finish in the South American Championships and was named MVP of the tournament.
“Not only is Greg a tremendous talent and competitor, he is a very insightful and poised young man,” Hill said. “He also brings the invaluable experience of having played for Dan Hurley, an elite coach at one of the nation’s premier high school programs. The significance of adding players from the nation’s No. 1 and No. 2 ranked high school teams — both of which have been schooled in ‘Hurley basketball’ – is immense.”
Mitchell is a former Mr. New York State Basketball who played two seasons at Florida and shot 50 percent from the field after having played for Mount Vernon coach Bob Cimmino, who also coached Rutgers freshman guard Mike Coburn.
“J-Mitch is a skilled forward who has been extremely well coached at both the high school and collegiate levels,” Hill said. “He brings experience, a remarkable work ethic and a well developed, inside-out game. Simply put, he is a winner. He’s also the type of individual , both on and off the court, we want in our program.”
Mitchell can practice with the Knights next season before taking the court in 2009-10. He is Mount Vernon’s all-time leading scorer, surpassing Chicago Bulls guard Ben Gordon, as well as Gus Williams, Ray Williams, Earl Tatum, Rodney McCray and Scooter McCray.
(Photos courtesy Brian Kelley, Florida)
