To give a first impression, this looks like it very well could, and probably should turn out to be Stew Morrill's best recruiting class since, well... ever! Looking back at the 2005 class that brought in Durrall Peterson, Chaz Spicer, Chris Session, Nate Bendall and Tyler Newbold (who came later because of a mission), that's got some quality star power across that board. 2006 wasn't half-bad either with Kris Clark, Steve Ducharme, Brady Jardine and Pooh Williams.
But for each of those classes there were a couple of misses as well, which really can be said for every year. If you ever get a year where every guy in a class pans out to be a solid contributor, chances are a nice little NCAA tournament run is in your near future.
So if the basketball gods wouldn't mind smiling down on Utah State University this coming season, we'd really enjoy it if this were to be the class where everyone pans out to be studs. The ensuing result of such an astrological alignment (that's part of the Mayan 2012 thing, right?) would create something so unstoppable that not even John Cusack could save the rest of the WAC from USU's wrath (kind of like how he couldn't save that apocalyptic movie from being s***ty).
Without further adieu though, let's give the briefs on everybody. To keep some organization to things, we'll break it down by position.
POINT GUARDS
Marcel Davis - Freshman
It's only fitting to mention Davis first seeing as how he was the trendsetter of this class, being the first to commit way back in June following his sophomore year of high school. Since then he's proceeded to nap first-team all-state honors two times, be mentioned as one of the top point guard recruits from west of the Mississippi, help lead an AAU team to the final four of arguably the biggest AAU tournament in the country and continually shined against some of the rest of the nation's top recruits. Having watched him, his basketball instincts are off the charts. He's great at making reads as they happen, is a good shooter, very good passer and great facilitator. He's believed by many to be the top prospect of this class.
TeNale Roland - Junior
In what turns out to have actually been his sophomore season at Rend Lake College, Roland averaged 20.7 points, 3.7 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game en route to earning second-team all-American honors in NJCAA Division-II. He's also supposed to be a defensive stud, which can be game-changing from the point guard spot, as Brockeith Pane taught us in a few games. The last two JUCO all-Americans to take the court for USU each earned second-team all-WAC honors in their first season as Aggies and first-team all-WAC as seniors. The other JUCO all-Americans to suit up for Stew was USU's King of Clutch, Chaz Spicer.
WINGS
Riley Bradshaw - Freshman
In a preseason poll on the website of one Montana newspaper, they asked who the best high school basketball player in the state was. The first two options to choose from were, "Riley Bradshaw, and it's not even close" and "Riley Bradshaw, but it's close." If that's how they word things, then option A is the right choice. Everything I've been able to gather about Bradshaw is that he appears to be the second coming of Preston Medlin, which is a pretty damn good player to be the second coming of. He's technically labeled as a combo guard, but my guess is that the shooting guard spot is his the second that it is no longer Medlin's in a couple years. He can score in all sorts of ways, set up teammates, handle the rock, etc. If I were to put in my take on the top recruit of this class, it's 1a and 1b with Davis and Bradshaw. Regardless, these two will be fun as hell to watch play.
Quincy Bair - Freshman
High school teammates with Davis, Bair also was on the all-state first team twice over, and for good reason. Bair was often on the receiving end of assists from Davis, but also just as capable of doing things on his own. He can put the ball on the floor and create chances near the basket or beat you from deep to score in bunches. Above all else though, in a handful of games of watching Bair, he was always a team guy. Both he and Davis have that "take over the game" X-factor in them, but they played as a team and did all the little things that made both their teammates and their team better off. Bair is also a tremendous athlete and defensive player, which will carry him a long way playing for Morrill. Oh, and he also gave a good solid "NO" when Utah head coach Larry Kryst7sxfnd tried snatching him away. Already a stud in my book.
Spencer Butterfield - Junior
If there were a 1c recruit in this class, it would probably be Butterfield. Everything that has been said about Butterfield by coaches, fans or journalists who have seen him indicates that he is like a hybrid of all the best qualities of Brian Green and Jared Quayle, only bigger and stronger. He led his team in scoring and rebounding last season, with fantastic shooting numbers to show with it, capped off with being named the California JUCO Co-Player of the Year (sharing that honor with former Aggie James Walker and one other guy I clearly don't care enough about to look up his name). Being just 6-foot-3, one might not think of him as a possible starter at small forward, but guys that size have excelled plenty at that spot under Stew, and if he's as quick, aggressive, tough, fierce and strong defensively as we're all hearing, all-WAC is probably in his very near future.
Marvin Jean - Junior
Jean might be the biggest mystery of this class, just because he seemingly came out of nowhere being from so far away. In what little I've been able to see of him though, he looks to have some crazy potential. No doubt he is coming from a league where organization was not much of a priority offensively, but he still tried to make it one much of the time. He also appeared very committed on the defensive end of the floor, which will get Stew excited every time around. How in the world the coaches caught wind of Jean all the way out in Utah, maybe we'll never know. For them to make the effort to go see him play in New York has to mean they see something unique in him. If nothing else, he'll bring a big, strong, physical athlete into the mix on the wings, which would be a major addition to the team. Wish I knew more about him to tell, but we're just going to have to see for ourselves.
POSTS
Sean Harris - Junior
As a freshman at Yuba College, Harris averaged 14.9 points and 11.7 rebounds per game and was the runner-up for the Bay Valley Conference Player of the Year award. That was a long damn time ago at this point. USU's release on his signing says that he put up those numbers in the 2008-09 season, but Rivals.com lists him as a JUCO recruit for the 2008 class. Somewhere along the line, Harris apparently used his redshirt year too, because speculation is that a medical hardship isn't likely for this past season that Harris lost most of to a torn ACL. What facts emerge and how that plays out will be interesting. Hopefully he can still tear it up like Spencer Nelson did back in the day after his knee injury. The team could use a true back-to-the-basket type of post player, and if Harris can provide that, it would give the posts something they were largely lacking this past year from the power forward spot.
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