Kudos to a kid for loyalty and keeping his word:

Forward Matt Stanley, a 6-foot-8 Cabot, Ark., native who told The Commercial Appeal earlier this month that he received his first Division-I scholarship offer from Memphis assistant coach Saul Smith, officially signed his national letter-of-intent with Division-II Ouachita Baptist University on Wednesday.

The decision drew national attention on social media Wednesday night and furthered speculation that perhaps Stanley did not have a scholarship offer from Memphis.

Memphis is not allowed to publicly comment on potential recruits or scholarship offers, but Stanley’s father emailed The Commercial Appeal Thursday morning to try and clarify the situation.

“Matt was offered a scholarship. We have it in writing. The timing was just bad,” Jim Stanley wrote. “OBU has been recruiting Matt since 9th grade. Offered him a scholarship in 10th grade. Matt has a very good relationship with the OBU coaching staff. Matt felt like he couldn't let Coach [Dennis] Nutt or the OBU family down. Recruitment is about building a relationship. It is just so late that is impossible to do.”