RE: 2010-11 MBB Early Signees
The list of newcomers is now complete. Looks impressive. Let's hope they can win conference tournament games!
Anthony Dees G Fr. 6-4 180 Los Angeles, Calif. / Dorsey HS
Rico Ferguson G Fr. 6-2 185 Richmond, Va. / Heat Academy (Martinsville, Va.) / Bird HS
Eric Griffin F Jr. 6-8 190 Orlando, Fla. / Garden City (Kan.) CC / Boone HS
Marvelle Harris F Fr. 6-6 210 Macon, Ga. / Heat Academy (Martinsville, Va.) / Northeast HS
Anthony Horton F Fr. 6-8 210 League City, Texas / Clear Springs HS
Martell Jackson C Jr. 6-10 265 Brighton, Colo. / Garden City (Kan.) CC / Brighton HS
From the GoCamels.com release..
"Collectively, this group of spring signees addresses our pressing style of play and the need to supplement our experience in the back court and on the perimeter"
"In the early recruitment period, we addressed our front line needs, and took the spring period to add to our guards and wing players. All three of these young men are extremely athletic and long with a lot of pop, and should fit nicely into the pressure and multiple defense style we've adopted over the last couple of years."
Ferguson and Harris led Heat Academy to a 33-4 record during the 2009-10 season and were two of six Division I signees on a squad that was rated as the number-three prep school team in the country.
Ferguson averaged 12.1 points, 5.2 assists and 3.3 steals per game at Heat Academy. He played at Lloyd C. Bird High School in Richmond, Va., and was selected for the South squad in the annual 804 All-Star Game following his senior season in 2009.
A first-team all-conference and All-Dominion district second team choice in '09, the 6-foot-1, 190-pound Ferguson averaged 17.1 points and 6.8 assists as a senior when he was chosen for the Virginia High School All-Star game South roster.
A four-year starter, Ferguson scored more than 1000 points in his high school career and set a school record with 14 assists in one game.
"Rico is a very versatile perimeter player, who can play the one, two or three," said Laing. "He is a tenacious defender and is really good finishing at the hole. He has a competitive spirit similar to what we saw in (2010 grad) Miles Taylor. He's a fighter."
Harris, a 6-foot-7, 210-pound forward, averaged 10.2 points and 8.2 boards per contest at Heat Academy. He played at Northeast High School in Macon, Ga., and with the highly-regarded Atlanta Celtics AAU club and was ranked the 20th-best player in the state of Georgia's class of 2010 by youthprepstar.com.
He was a first-team all-region performer as a freshman, sophomore and junior at Northeast High School, who earned first-team all-state recognition as a junior. Harris led the region in rebounding both as a sophomore (12.0) and junior (13.0) and helped his squad to a play-off berth three times.
Harris started as a freshman, when he averaged 14.5 point, 10 rebounds and four blocks. During his sophomore year, he contributed 10 point, 12 boards and four rejections. As a junior, he chipped in 17 points, 13 rebounds and 6.5 blocks. During his 3-year career, Northeast compiled a 65-10 won-lost record.
"Marvelle is a small/power forward combo, who can play inside-out," said Laing. "He could be a terrific rebounder and electrifying finisher in our fast break system. He is very physical and has great feel around the rim with a developing outside shot."
A 6-foot-3 guard, Dees earned first-team all-city and all-conference honors as a senior at Dorsey High School in Los Angeles. He averaged 20 points, six rebounds and six assists per game and was named to all-tournament teams at the Amare Stoudemire tournament in Las Vegas and the Desert Heat Classic in Palm Springs.
An honor roll student in all four years of high school, Dees also played with the Cal-Supreme club program.
"Anthony is a 6-foot-4 shooter from Los Angeles and could be a taller version of (2009 A-Sun freshman of the year) Lorne Merthie," said Laing. "He is a prolific shooter, whose length should help us defensively in our full court system. He can play either wing and possibly compliment Lorne on the opposite side of our fast break."
During his sophomore season, Griffin shot 57.1 percent from the field and averaged 8.1 points, 6.5 rebounds and blocked 50 shots in 32 games (1.6 per outing) at Garden City Community College. As a freshman, he contributed 16 points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per outing at Hiwassee Community College in Tennessee. Griffin, who has grown four inches since high school, hails from Orlando, Fla., where he played for Coach Willie Anderson at Boone High.
During his senior season, Horton was a first-team all-district and all-county selection and named team MVP after averaging 17.6 points and 7.2 rebounds per game, while leading his school to the Texas 5-A state playoffs for the second-consecutive year. Horton shot 52 percent from the floor, 35 percent from 3-point range and 64 percent from the foul line.
He participated in the Houston Area Basketball Coaches Association All Star Game and was the East team's leading scorer. The all-time leading scorer at Clear Springs, Horton was the first student-athlete to sign a Division I scholarship from the school and was rated the 29th-best player in the Houston area in the class of 2010 by RCSSports.com.
Horton was a first-team all-district 24-5A and all-country selection as a junior at Clear Springs, where he averaged 16.4, 6.7 rebounds points and shot 55 percent from the floor and 75 percent from the foul line for Coach Chris Johnson's Chargers. He tallied a season-high 29 points in a 74-73 win over Flower Mound High School.
Jackson hails from Denver, Colo., where he played for Coach Dan Lliteras at Brighton High School. During his sophomore year at Garden City Community College, Jason chipped in 7.1 points and 4.2 rebounds and shot 51.7 percent from the floor.
As a freshman, Jackson averaged 6.1 points and 2.9 rebounds while shooting 53 percent from the field for the Broncbusters' Region VI Championship team that went 25-13 and finished sixth at the 2009 NJCAA national tournament.
"This entire class is going to allow us to play a lot more aggressive tempo at both ends of the floor," said Laing.
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