Dayton Signs First 2011 Recruit; Randall to Rutgers

Now that the July Open Evaluation Period has ended, many rising high school seniors are aware that their time to make an impression on college coaches has come to an end. As a result, a number of highly regarded players have made their college choice in the past 48 hours. Locally, North Jersey post player Derrick Randall, who saw lots of early recruiting interest from the Saint Joseph's, made a verbal commitment to Mike Rice and the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. Over the past month, Rutgers has been considered the frontrunner for Randall, with Virginia Tech also heavily in the mix. Randall, who played at Paterson (NJ) Catholic last year, is considered more of a defensive and rebounding presence right now, with his offense still coming along.

In the Atlantic 10, the Dayton Flyers received a big commitment on Sunday. Percy Gibson, a 6'8 power forward from Detroit, chose Dayton over schools such as Temple, USC, and Minnesota. Dayton was one of the Atlantic 10 schools that inked a tremendous 2010 recruiting class. Dayton, along with Xavier and Saint Joseph's, signed what many people considered to be top 25 caliber classes. Gibson's signing puts Dayton off on the right foot in the 2011 class. With names starting to drop off the board, and the month of July now over, the next couple of weeks could be interesting.