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After signing perhaps the best recruiting class in school history, Seth Greenberg has begun to focus heavily on finding two “bigs” in the 2012 class and earlier this week, he landed a commitment from one of the top players on his list. Montrezl Harrell is listed as the 58th best player in the country by Rivals, 57th best player in the country by Scout, 50th best by ESPN, and the 8th best player by SuperPreps.com.
Obviously, Super Preps has him higher than the rest but he is definitely a consensus top 60 player in the country by all four sites. Harrell committed to Tech just eight days after his visit to Blacksburg to take in College Game and the Duke game that night.
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Harrell talked to his local newspaper, The Rocky Mount Telegram, after his commitment and had this to say about Virginia Tech:
It was the atmosphere, the coaches and their style of play,” Harrell said about the decision he made Sunday night. “Overall, it’s just a great school. I was glad I was there to experience the win against Duke. Just seeing the atmosphere and the way their fans react to the players, it was great.”
Player Breakdown
Name: Montrezl Harrell
Position: Power Forward
Location: Tarboro, North Carolina
School: North Edgecombe High School
Height: 6’7”
Weight: 225 lbs
Offers: Virginia Tech, Xavier, Clemson, South Carolina, UVA, and ECU
Highlights
Prediction Based on Film Evidence
Harrell is very similar to the type of player Jeff Allen was coming out of high school so I’m not surprised that Greenberg offered him early on. If you watch his film I’ve posted above, Harrell comes across as a kid who’s motor is always running down low. He’s not the most polished player around the glass but he makes up for that with his rebounding ability and his god given athletic ability.
Harrell can also step outside and knock down an open jumpshot when given the chance although as a coach, he’s much more dangerous with the ball in his hands near the basket. He still needs to develop his overall skill set and he needs to continue working on his outside shot. However, there might not be a harder-working or tougher player in the 2012 class. Overall, this is a great pickup for the Hokies.
What the Guru’s Have to Say
Scout.com posted this on Harrell’s profile: “Harrell is a beast mode power forward who is always going 100 mph to make things happen. He is strong, tough, and is a freak athlete which allows him to dominate opponents down low.His skill set on the outside needs to catch up with his physical abilities, but he is very productive despite the size limitation.”
ESPN had this to say about Harrell’s strengths: “We would all like to be as athletic and naturally strong as Harrell. The star player in a small town, he's learned how to carry a team and deal with the attention. Harrell's game is a mixture of explosiveness at the rim and perimeter ability that extends past mid-range. Long armed, Harrell plays with confidence in traffic and tries to dunk everything around the rim. Harrell is an excellent rebounder at both ends.”
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Upshot for the rest of the class?
What do you think the starting lineup will be next year and the following year?
Will Allen Chaney be able to play again?
I chose not to do the upshot just because I don’t follow basketball recruiting as closely, plus it’s tougher to gauge who we’re actively recruiting, who’ve we offered, etc. It’s a lot more different than following football recruiting. We will take one more in this class and it will likely be a true center.
Next years starting five will likely be Green at the 1, Hudson at the 2, Eddie at the 3 (if he remains eligible and gets his act together… if not that Finney-Smith could start as a freshman, Thompson at the 4, and Davila at the 5. Atkins, Garland, and the other freshmen would be our primary backups.
Chaney is having a procedure done in May I believe and the coaches will know more after that. Right now though, I’d put the odds of him suiting up next season at about 20%. But like I said, there is still a lot of uncertainty until this procedure is done.
won’t we be taking 2 more in this class? I count 11 scholarship players, including Harrell, onboard for the 2012-13 season (barring injuries/transfers):
G – Erick Green, Tyrone Garland, Marquis Rankin, Robert Brown
G/F – Manny Atkins, Jarrell Eddie, Dorian Finney-Smith
F/C – Allan Chaney, Cadarian Raines, CJ Barksdale, Montrezl Harrell
It appears that we’ll likely take a wing or a guard in that class as well but the situation is fluid. We may be able to take one more as well but that depends on a few other factors. As of now, it does look like the number in the 2012 class is going to be three. 2 Bigs and a wing.
We could also take a 5th player in this class as well but I’m guessing that scholarship will be saved and will likely move over to 2012 so we can take three in that class. I like the idea of spreading everything out then trying to take five in a single class.