2021 guard Brandon Murray commits to LSU
After putting together quite the recruiting class for 2020, head coach Will Wade and the LSU Tigers are out to a solid start in building their 2021 class as they earned the commitment from 2021 IMG Academy guard Brandon Murray Brandon Murray 6'5" | SG IMG Academy | 2021 #220 Nation FL this evening. Murray chose the Tigers over Memphis, Rhode Island and Virginia Tech among a list of others.
“I chose LSU because I just felt most comfortable with that decision,” Murray told Prep Hoops. “They recruited me the hardest out of any school and I thought it was just a situation that just fit. Coach [Will] Wade was telling me how I’d fit into the system and everything just felt right.”
Murray also told me that Rhode Island was the other program who really made a push and made this decision a tough one, but it was ultimately the recruiting from Coach Wade and Coach [Kevin] Nickleberry that secured the 6-foot-5 guard’s commitment.
“They love the fact that I’m a three-level scorer,” Murray continued, “they harped on the fact that they’ll need a scoring guard to come in and they believe I fit that. Also that I’m an all-around player and that I get gritty on both sides of the court and I just have a dog mentality in me.”
Every year there seems to be a prospect in the senior class that witnesses an explosion in his recruitment. For the 2019-20 season it was Murray throughout his senior year at Poly in Baltimore, Maryland. His name started making waves in December, but the real catapult occurred after Poly shocked IMG Academy at the East Coast Bump event led by the 6-foot-5 guard’s game-high 21 points. That’s when high major programs started getting involved with Murray, but it was also unfortunately around the same time COVID-19 forced a cancellation of his senior campaign.
He then elected to do a post-grad prep year at IMG Academy and enter the 2021 class. His recruitment ramped up even more but ultimately head coach Will Wade and staff won him over quick enough for him to come to a decision.
Murray will join 2021 forward Jerrell Colbert as the two verbal commits thus far. Coach Wade is no stranger of putting together strong freshman classes. Murray and Colbert are a strong start to assembling another.
My reaction:
Assuming that there is some type of basketball season for 2020-21, a post-grad prep year at a school like IMG Academy will only further prepare Murray for the SEC. As is, he’s a bullish guard with elite athleticism and explosiveness. He has enough strength to hold his own as a freshman at the SEC level. As most freshman, it’ll take Murray some time adjusting to the nuances that the college level presents, but a huge positive is how he takes being coached. I ultimately think he settles in and produces at a consistent rate where he could become a starter by his sophomore year.