Nine newcomers will link up with six returning
players on VCU’s men’s basketball squad
for the 2007-2008 season. Of those nine, six
hail from Florida.
Head coach Anthony Grant grew up in
Miami and spent 10 seasons as an assistant
to Billy Donovan at the University of Florida.
Despite his ties to the state, Grant said Florida
players are not sought after more than players
from other states.
“Looking at our team, we had some needs to
fill, and we recruited a variety of guys,” said Grant.
“It wasn’t a situation where we said ‘We’re going to
target a state or target a particular player from a state.’
We’re just trying to fit our needs.”
Not all of the incoming talent is from the Sunshine State,
though. Freshman Brandon Rozzell was recruited locally from
Highland Springs. Junior Terrell Elliston joined the Rams from Polk
Community College in the Bronx, N.Y., and sophomore Kirill Pishchalnikov
came from Maykop, Russia.
The Rams have 13 men’s basketball scholarships, whereas Football Bowl Subdivisions
programs are allotted 85 and focus on regional recruiting. As a result, Grant
considers VCU to be a program that recruits nationally.
“We recruit the best players that fit who we are, no matter where they may
be from,” Grant said. “It kind of worked out that those guys all happened to be
from the state of Florida. We felt like for what we needed on our team, they were
a good fit.”
Familiarity and local networking help
a coaching staff to have a better sense of
the talent available, though. Senior Jamal
Shuler (Jacksonville, N.C./Jacksonville),
junior Eric Maynor (Raeford, N.C./
Westover) and sophomore T.J. Gwynn
(Burlington, N.C./Cummings) were all
recruited by previous Rams head coach
Jeff Capel from North Carolina, Capel’s
home state.
The same situation applied to Grant’s
first full offseason recruiting with the
Rams.
“During my time there (in Florida), I
had a chance to get to know quite a few high
school coaches and see quite a few players down
there,” Grant said. “I had a familiarity with a lot
of the guys we recruited from down there, having
seen them play and to have relationships with their
coaches and with them.”
The six Florida freshmen are Myk Brown (Gainesville,
Fla./P.K. Yonge), Lance Kearse (Fort Myers, Fla./Fort Myers), Ed
Nixon (St. Petersburg, Fla./Lakewood), Joey Rodriguez (Oviedo, Fla./Lake Howell),
Larry Sanders (Fort Pierce, Fla./Port St. Lucie) and Gerard Smith (Windermere,
Fla./Timber Creek).
Grant expects the freshmen to be mentored by the returning players to instill
the championship mentality.
“Those guys can provide leadership to the young guys and teach them the
ropes of what college basketball is all about, and who we are as a team and as a
program,” Grant said.