It looks like Philly native and Friends Central forward Amile Jefferson will finally make the decision of which college to play for Tuesday afternoon. With the late signing period looming Wednesday, it looks like the top 25 prospect has nailed it down to where he wants to go. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Jefferson said on Friday that he’s “still looking” at Ohio State, Kentucky, Villanova, N.C. State, and Duke. The Gatorade Player of the Year in the state of Pennsylvania had at one point put the Buckeyes high on his list, but since has seemed to favorite the likes of N.C. State and Duke.The Friends’ Central senior averaged 20 points, 10 rebounds and 2.7 blocks per game in his high school career. The McDonalds All-American has a very good all around game, that best suits him at the power forward position in the college game.
Early on, it looked like Duke and Ohio State would be in a battle to convince Jefferson they were the school for him. But as of late, N.C. State has really put together a push to convince the undersized forward. And now, with one scholarship left for 2012, Calipari is putting in his last sales pitch for Jefferson in Lexington. Back in December, I profiled Jefferson in a 2012 recruiting update:
A lot of what has kept the Jefferson recruiting wheel rolling has to do with the likes of Anthony Bennett, who has yet to sign a Letter of Intent, and might even opt to wait until after the late signing period. Both Power forwards were on the radar of Kentucky and Duke. Jefferson has also continued to explore his options based on probable NBA Draft picks. NC State, who was the most recent to jump in the mix, has a top five class heading to campus in 2012. If they could add Jefferson, they could really be a threat in the ACC right away next season. With the talented C.J. Leslie returning though, many wonder if Jefferson still has them as a favorite heading into Tuesday. I personally believe that Duke would be the perfect fit for Jefferson to develop his game and get immediate playing time. In fact, in due time, he could become the next Eldon Brand or Shane Battier in that program. His skill set really plays into how the Duke program has handled it’s undersized bigs in the past. His game is similar to that Sheldon Williams, Carlos Boozer, Christian Laettner, Leoul Deng and the tons of forwards that have come through the program and made their way to the NBA. All we can hope for is that his announcement doesn’t take as long as former recruit Tony Parker, who selected UCLA after three hours of non-sense. |
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