NMH's Cummins to Harvard

Last July, I wrote an article about a player still relatively under the radar who had just picked up an offer from Saint Joseph's. That player, Northfield Mount Hermon's Evan Cummins, received significant attention from schools of all levels in the year since the Hawks made him an offer. Evan's recruitment came to an end on Tuesday, when he made his decision to play in the Ivy League for Tommy Amaker at Harvard.

Northfield Mount Hermon coach John Carroll confirmed Evan's commitment to me yesterday, saying that Evan did a good job with the recruiting process. He knew what he was looking for in a college and ultimately selected the best overall fit. Evan committed to Harvard over a number of other offers from wide-ranging conferences. Saint Joseph's, Davidson, Notre Dame, Northwestern, and others were under consideration by the 6'8 forward.

Although Evan is now off the board, his frontcourt teammate at NMH, Ethan O'Day, is another player with recruiting interest from Saint Joseph's. I will continue to track his recruitment and visit schedule over the summer.

Saint Joseph's 2012 Recruiting Targets: Big Men

Yesterday, I took a look at seven players in the class of 2012 that either have interest from the Hawks or have committable offers. Everyone mentioned yesterday was a perimeter player. Today I will look at the big men in the class of 2012 with interest from the Hawks. This list is smaller, but does contain a few noteworthy names.

Devontae Watson: 6'10 center from Lincoln Park High near Pittsburgh. Watson possesses great size at 6'10 and also a 92 inch wingspan. At the moment, his strengths are rebounding and defense, as he is a relative newcomer to the game. I spoke with his high school coach, Mike Bariski, last week. That article can be found here.

Evan Cummins: 6'8 forward from Northfield Mount Hermon in Massachusetts. Cummins has offers and interest from Saint Joseph's, Notre Dame, Stanford, Harvard, Boston University, Davidson, and several other schools. Over the past few months, I have written a number of stories on Cummins. The most recent article, which also profiles teammate Ethan O'Day (who just picked up an SJU offer), is linked here.

Ethan O'Day: 6'8 forward from Northfield Mount Hermon. No, that is not a typo. Ethan is the second player from the same frontcourt with an SJU offer. Lucas Shapiro wrote an article on TheRecruitScoop last week on Ethan, in which Ethan claims to have recently picked up an SJU offer. That article can be found here.

Jaylen Bond: 6'7 forward from Plymouth-Whitemarsh High School in Pennsylvania. Jaylen will be doing a prep year at Saint Thomas Moore next year. Jaylen played high school basketball at La Salle Prep, and then at Plymouth-Whitemarsh, with current Saint Joseph's rising sophomore CJ Aiken. Originally a 2011 Pitt signee, Bond has opted to go the prep school route and re-open his recruitment. Since he re-opened, Jaylen has heard from Tennessee, Temple, La Salle, and Saint Joseph's. That list is courtesy of the article from NBE Basketball Report found here.

Donovan Jack: 6'9 forward from Reading Central Catholic (PA). Donovan's name is one that has been on the SJU staff's radar for quite some time. Also a terrific student, the lefty has wide-ranging interest, from Patriot League schools to high-majors. Donovan is getting looks from a number of the Philadelphia schools too, including Temple and Saint Joseph's. Both Coach Martelli and Coach Dunphy have been looking at Donovan since last winter, and both still seem to be looking over a year later.

Blaise Mbargorba: Blaise is a 7-footer who played this past year at Peddie School in New Jersey, after playing the previous season at Saint Benedict's Prep. I have seen Blaise listed at times as a 2011 recruit, and other times as a 2012 recruit. Either way, he is being mentioned here. According to Jay Gomes of NJHoops, the native of Cameroon has offers from Saint Joseph's and Vanderbilt. An article from this past weekend, linked here, has Blaise with interest from West Virginia, Saint Joseph's, Providence, Virginia Tech, and Boston College. The article, written by Dan Martin, provides a detailed look at the type of player that Blaise is and his thoughts on the recruiting process.

With that, the list of 2012 names is at 13. There is a good chance (great chance) that I am also leaving people out. If you know of anyone else getting looks from the Hawks in 2012, please let me know.

NMH's Cummins, O'Day Getting Attention

Year in and year out, Northfield Mount Hermon (MA) turns out division one basketball player after division one basketball player. Last year, NHM had 8 alumni playing college ball in the Ivy League, so the school is turning out more than just basketball players. Current NMH senior Aaron Cosby is headed to the Big East and Seton Hall next year. The junior class at NMH is looking to also keep this tradition alive.

Two juniors on Northfield Mount Hermon garnering significant attention are forwards Evan Cummins and Ethan O'Day. I caught up with NMH head coach John Carroll about both true student-athletes.

6'8 junior Evan Cummins, who is running with the New England Playaz this AAU season, has a long list of schools pursuing him. Among them are Saint Joseph's, Notre Dame, Stanford, Harvard, Davidson, and Boston University among others. According to Carroll, all of those schools have extended scholarships Evan's way. Cummins stands right around 6'8 and 225 pounds and is having, according to Carroll, a terrific spring.

Another 6'8 junior on NMH is Ethan O'Day. While, to this point, O'Day has not received quite the attention that Cummins has, he is attracting plenty of interest of his own. O'Day is described by his coach as "6'8, long, skilled, and athletic." Ethan's offers are from Holy Cross, Quinnipiac, Vermont, Yale, and Penn. In addition to those offers, he has interest from Virginia, Davidson, Elon, Drexel, Fairfield, Saint Joseph's, and more. O'Day is playing his AAU ball this spring with the Connecticut Basketball Club. Over the next few weeks, Ethan may be headed down to Philadelphia to visit schools.

On April 20th, Saint Joseph's head coach Phil Martelli was one of several coaches at Northfield Mount Hermon checking in. Along with Martelli were coaches from Notre Dame, SMU, and Vermont. According to Carroll, the SJU head coach was watching both Cummins and O'Day.

While neither player appears in any rush to make a decision, it is clear that both will have quite a few options, and that both will be academically prepared for the rigors of college.

Hawks Still Recruiting NMH's Cummins

In early August, I profiled Northfield Mount Hermon's 2012 big man Evan Cummins, with some insight into his game and recruitment from NMH head coach John Carroll. At the time, the Hawks were one of the many teams tracking the 6'8 forward. It seems that Evan is still a recruiting target of the SJU coaches, as assistant coach Dave Duda was on hand as NMH beat Hun School (NJ) 66-49 on Saturday.

According to Coach John Carroll, who I caught up with earlier today, Evan had 4 points on 2-5 shooting to go along with 15 rebounds in the victory Saturday, with Dave Duda on hand. In a Sunday win against Blair Academy (NJ), Evan had 8 points, 8 rebounds, and 2 blocks. On Sunday, coaches from Stanford, Penn, Davidson, Bucknell, Boston University, and La Salle were in the house watching the talented junior. In addition to the interest of all these schools, Evan also has offers from the University of Virginia, Notre Dame, and Northwestern, according to his coach.

Photo of Evan courtesy of New England Recruiting Report

Evan Cummins Taking Visits

In early August, I wrote about a new name on the recruiting front for the Hawks: Northfield Mount Hermon (MA) junior Evan Cummins. Cummins, a 6'8 forward, impressed the Saint Joseph's coaching staff enough over the summer that they extended an offer his way. Over the past couple of days, Evan has taken in two college campuses.

On Saturday, Cummins was in South Bend for the Notre Dame-Stanford football game. Today, Evan is on an unofficial visit to Northwestern University.

Northfield Mount Hermon coach John Carroll informed me last week that Evan still has an offer on the table from the Hawks. He also added that the SJU coaching staff was in contact with him prior to the open period, reiterating their interest in his star junior.

Evan's name is one to continue to keep an eye on in the coming months.

Evan Cummins Making a Name for Himself

It happens every summer on the AAU circuit. High school players that have flown relatively under the radar during their high school seasons suddenly attract the attention of college coaches. One player from the Northeast that has caught the eyes of many college coaches is Northfield Mount Hermon (MA) rising junior Evan Cummins.

Northfield Mount Hermon is one of the more recognizable names in the world of high school basketball. Last season, 8 graduates of Northfield Mount Hermon played college ball in the Ivy League. 24 NMH graduates played Division 1 college basketball last year. With numbers like that, it's clear that NMH head coach John Carroll and the teachers at the high school have their students prepared for college.

Head coach John Carroll was nice enough to break down Evan Cummins' game and recruitment for me yesterday. According to Carroll, Evan has played his way to roughly a dozen scholarship offers. Saint Joseph's is one of the schools to extend an offer to Evan, along with Providence, UMass, Boston University, Florida Atlantic, and several others. In addition, Evan is currently hearing from other schools in the PAC-10, Big East, ACC, Atlantic 10, and Ivy League conferences.

This summer, Evan played on the NE Playaz AAU team. The 6'8 forward is "very athletic with tremendous defensive ability," according to his high school coach. John Carroll went on to say that Evan is a "tremendous passer for his position" and "an elite player in transition on both ends of the floor."

Evan is clearly a talented player on the court, and according to his coach a terrific student. It looks like Evan will have plenty of choices when it comes time for him to make a college decision. He is certainly a player that coaches will continue to keep tabs on.

Photo of Evan Cummins courtesy of NewEnglandRecruitingReport.com

Hawks Offer 2012 Forward

After such an action-packed spring, with the signings of Pat Swilling Jr. and Ronald Roberts, it has been a fairly slow summer up to this point for Saint Joseph's fans. There have been reports involving Montverde's Papa Samba Ndao and rising senior Andrew Nicholas. In the case of Papa Ndao, Montverde Academy reported that Ndao has given the Hawks a commitment. Shortly after that, Rivals.com reported the same. Aside from these two reports, there has been no further confirmation or elaboration on Papa's recruiting status. In the case of Nicholas, the former Rutgers commit was supposedly on the verge of giving the Hawks a commitment a few weeks ago, but all has been quiet since that report first surfaced.

A new name to throw into the mix now is that of Northfield Mount Hermon's rising junior Evan Cummins. Cummins is a 6'8 power forward who already has offers from Providence, UMass, Florida Atlantic, Boston University, and William and Mary. That list, as well as the news that the Hawks have offered Cummins, comes straight off of Northfield Mount Hermon's Twitter account, which is linked at the bottom of this article.

Cummins is the latest 2012 recruit to receive an offer from the Hawks. Scranton 6'5 guard Terry Turner is another target who has emerged over the past 6 months or so as a top target of the SJU coaching staff. Neshaminy's Ryan Arcidiacono has long been a top target of the coaches, and remains one. Ryan's stock has exploded this summer thanks to his strong showing on the AAU circuit. Ryan now boasts offers from some of the biggest names in college basketball, such as Florida, West Virginia, Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, and Notre Dame. Most of these 2012 recruits are still about a year away from making their college decision, so there is time for school lists and leaders to change.

Northfield Mount Hermon Twitter