CollegeInsider.com: This year's mid-major recruiting was heavy on the blue chippers

BIG TIME TALENT

July 10, 2009

This year's mid-major recruiting was heavy on the blue chippers

The July recruiting period is in full swing, but rather than looking ahead let's look back as there is a bumper crop of outstanding prep talent headed to a mid-major program near you.

What surprises some is the surplus of top shelf players that one might expect to see signing with teams from the traditional power conferences.

A great example is center Zeke Marshall, the 6'11" center out of McKeesport, PA who inked with Akron. It's not like the MAC hasn't produced it's fair share of studs over the years, many of whom have actually made a fine living in the NBA. But those players more often than not ended up in the conference because there was a knock on them. Gary Trent was deemed too unpolished (despite shooting 80% his senior year in high school) so he ended up at Ohio, or in the case of Earl Boykins he was too small for the big programs so he found himself at Eastern Michigan.

But Marshall is a different case altogether. Pittsburgh, Boston College and Virginia were all hot on his trail, but he still signed on the dotted line with Akron. I'm not going to get too carried away here because I know Marshall's freshman season isn't going to be confused with Patrick Ewing's first campaign at Georgetown. At a spindly 209 pounds, Marshall could use a lot more steak dinners and milk shakes between now and the Zips' season opener. But he's far from an unpolished center prospect who's only coveted for his height.

Like Marshall, power forward Rashanti Harris could have easily ended up at a high profile destination like Memphis or Arkansas. But Harris, who moved from Mississippi to play his final season of high school hoops at the Patterson School in Columbus, NC, will instead play for Rod Barnes at Georgia State. In terms of rebounding prowess, Harris is an absolute beast who'll be a handful for opposing CAA big men this coming season. Expect him to start collecting his fair share of double-doubles as the season progresses.

Harris is the CAA's highest profile signee, but George Mason's Jim Larranaga wasn't exactly asleep at the wheel during recruiting season. Showing that his program really has managed to carve out a national profile beyond CAA country, Larranaga signed a great six player recruiting class whose members hail from six different states. He fought off Alabama, Tennessee and Baylor to grab 6'7" forward Johnny Williams out of Memphis. Williams is a solid interior prospect who can step out and hit the 15-footer when asked.

Also highlighting this stellar class are guards Ventrail Vaughns out of Texas and Sherrod Wright out of New York. Vaughns is a highly regarded defender out of the talent rich Lone Star State, so look for this battle tested kid to make a contribution right out of the gate. Wright was Mt. Vernon High's most highly regarded prospect since Ben Gordon took his game to UConn. The 6'4" shooting guard strongly considered South Carolina, Cincinnati and Kansas State before pledging to George Mason.

When you start winning 20+ games every season, you start attracting the attention of top high school talent. That's exactly the situation at Belmont, a program that's become a postseason tournament regular under head coach Rich Byrd. Byrd crossed the border into Alabama and signed Madison Academy guard Kerron Johnson, who won the state's "Mr. Basketball" award in a close vote over Kentucky signee DeMarcus Cousins. Johnson averaged 23.5 ppg and 5.7 apg for the state runner-up Mustangs this past season. Johnson will make the big programs regret passing on him because of his lack of height (he stands at 6'0").

Like Byrd, Arkansas State's John Brady also headed south in hopes of grabbing quality talent. Brady went deep into the heart of SEC country to get the signature of 6'3" shooting guard Brandon Reed out of Powder Springs, GA. Very few Peach State products this season matched Reed's ability to finish in transition. Programs like Auburn and Georgia could definitely use a player with Reed's knack for scoring, but instead he'll try to help Arkansas State improve on its last place finish in the Sun Belt's West Division.

Nothing short of probation can kill a recruiting class like a coaching change. Once a change occurs, it's a pretty common practice for recruits to call up the school and request a release. This was the case with power forward Terrell Vinson, a 6'7" blue chipper out of Baltimore's St. Frances High. Vinson was a Baltimore Sun All-Metro selection after a huge senior season in which he average 23 ppg. In the early signing period, he inked with Bill Bayno and Loyola Marymount. But once Bayno resigned for health reasons, Vinson requested and received a release from the school. Loyola Marymount's huge mid-major catch will now play for Derek Kellogg at UMass.

In the case of Portland State, that program's coaching change didn't turn out to be a recruiting killer. In the early period, Ken Bone went into California and signed Chris Harriel out of Riverside's King High School. The athletic Harriel was a big contributor on the team that stunned nationally top ranked Mater Dei High in sectional play back in March. In the offseason, Bone left PSU to take the Washington State job, resulting in the promotion of assistant coach Tyler Geving into his old job. Geving kept Harriel in the fold and will now benefit from coaching one of the nation's biggest recruiting sleepers this coming season.

John Stansberry , who is a senior writer for collegeinsider.com, also covers college football and has his own blog - - the LonelyTailgater.com. EMAIL JOHN