Louisiana Recruiting Notes: Commitments and Rumors
With national signing day coming and going, it was relativly quiet. Most if not all of the players that are going D1 had already signed, and the only ones left are clinging to hope that the elusive D1 offer will be put on the table soon. However, there were a few commitments that went down as well as some rumors flying about where kids might be ending up.
The headlining commitment came from 6’3 PG Tyrece Radford, who otherwise would be a no doubt D1 prospect, but because of grades is going to have to spend a couple of years in the JUCO ranks. He made the decision to commit to NE Mississippi CC while on a visit, but rumor has it he hasn’t completely shut down his recruitment, and is still planning visits. He is scheduled to visit other JUCOs, and is even considering doing a postgrad year in hopes of improving his grades enough to be D1 eligible after a year. Every D1 JUCO in the country should be down to visit Radford over the next couple of weeks. He is an absolute pitbull on the court, and he is going to inject a level of toughness to whatever school he winds up at.
The next JUCO commitment came from 6’4 Braylon Chaisson of Carencro, who committed to Lamar St. Port Arthur, and his commitment seems to be quite a bit more firm. Chaisson feels like LSPA feels like home, and that getting out of the state will give him the opportunity to mature and grow both on and off the court, in hopes of becoming D1 eligible by the end of his two years. Chaisson is another that if he had the grades, he would be a D1 signee right now. You can check out more on his commitment and recruitment here.
The last big commitment that came down was from 6’5 Elijah Hampton of Grace Christian, a kid that is a deadeye shooter from deep and is getting better and better at taking guys off the dribble. He decided to stay in his home town and commit to LSUA for the next four years. He is going to have to sit out next year as he gets qualified in the classroom, but this has a chance to be a huge signing for LSUA as they look to reload for continued success and a potential national title at the NAIA level.
The final athlete I want to bring up is TJ Collins, a 6’3 off guard from Bonnabel, as he has officially opened up his recruitment to JUCOs. Rumor has it that it still hasn’t been decided whether or not Collins is going to be D1 eligible right out of high school, and he appears to be right on the edge between eligible and not. So he has covered all of his bases and continues to get recruited by both D1s as well as JUCOs for the next level.