Four players from the now Team Loaded River City Reign program signed their National Letters of Intent at the Maya Outreach Center in Richmond on Sunday. In their first year of having a senior class, the River City Reign program…
Four players from the now Team Loaded River City Reign program signed their National Letters of Intent at the Maya Outreach Center in Richmond on Sunday. In their first year of having a senior class, the River City Reign program in Virginia had five kids sign to division one schools and one sign to a Junior College.
The ceremony featured four of those kids that signed: Maliek White, Jermaine “JJ” Matthews, DaMontez Oliver and Marcus Burwell. The one who was missing was Azariah Sykes, who had a game with his high school Millwood the day before. He will sign Wednesday at Millwood School.
“A lot of these kids were overlooked by other programs,” River City Reign founder Rafer Giles said. “Through hard work and dedication, they have achieved their goals of getting a free education to play the game they love.”
The ceremony included signings and pictures with coaches and family, and many of the younger Reign kids showed up as well.
“These five have laid the foundation for the rest of you younger kids,” Reign 17s Coach Chris Herron said. “They have given you guys a great model to follow, and I hope you look up to them.”
The signings go as followed:
Maliek White to Providence College
White committed to the Big East school which has been to back-to-back NCAA Tournaments over Georgia Tech, ODU, Pittsburgh, South Carolina and Cincinnati. He will look to come in and take over for NBA bound PG Kris Dunn, who was chosen as the Preseason Big East Player of the Year.
JJ Matthews to Towson
Matthews is coming off of a monster summer in which he proved himself against some of the best bigs in the country. The Millwood School's first Division I commit picked the Tigers of the CAA over the likes of Providence, ODU, Murray State, Temple, and JMU.
DaMontez Oliver to Campbell
Oliver exploded on the summer scene in July, pulling in over 10 scholarship offers to Division I schools. The Deep Run senior chose Campbell over UNC-Wilmington, Nebraska Omaha, Coppin State, and Wofford.
Marcus Burwell to Bryant and Stratton College.
One of the most underrated players in the Richmond area, Marcus Burwell will head down to play for Brian Graves at Bryant and Stratton in Virginia Beach. The third year Junior College finished ranked in the top-15 nationally for Division II Juco's this past year.
Azariah Sykes to Morgan State
As stated earlier, Sykes will sign at his school on Wednesday. The 6'8'' high motor post picked up several offers playing with Reign in July, picking Morgan State over Hampton and Howard.
Team Loaded River City Reign will hold another signing ceremony in the spring for their spring signees after the high school season.