Tom Izzo has seen his recruiting classes lately ranked a little lower than usual lately. They haven’t been bad, they’ve just been lower rated than what’s expected in East Lansing. Well, that changed this national signing day as Izzo hauled in a blue chip class.
Here’s how the Big Ten was represented in the recruiting rankings according to 24/7 Sports: Ohio State #7, Illinois #8 (in depth on this class here), Michigan State #11, Nebraska #23, Wisconsin #30, Penn State #31, Minnesota #36 (in depth on this class here), Northwestern #43 (in depth on this class here) and Indiana #49. Rivals had OSU #8, MSU #12 and the Illini #16 in their top 25.
Here’s the details of what Tom Izzo pulled in, via Rivals:
PF Deyonta Davis (No. 23)
SG Matt McQuaid (No. 72)
SG Kyle Ahrens (NR 3-star)
“The Spartans have high hopes for Davis. The in-state product has length, athleticism and soft touch to go along with plenty of still untapped potential. After initially committing to SMU, McQuaid reconsidered and chose to take his deep jump shooting to East Lansing. Ahrens is a tough, blue collar wing working his way back from a junior season injury,” according to Rivals a subsidiary a Yahoo.
By the way you’ll also enjoy reading Tom Izzo giving a blunt assessment of the Big Ten race; as well as his very funny but very true take on all the non-basketball injuries the Spartans suffered last season.
Kyle Ahrens (G, 6-5, 195, Versailles, Ohio/Versailles H.S.)
His dunk over an opposing player in the state semifinals was featured on ESPN SportsCenter’s Top 10 plays. Ranked the No. 149 player in the nation by 24/7 Sports
Coach Tom Izzo on Ahrens: “Kyle was a guy that we first recruited as a sophomore and then he had the unfortunate mishap a couple games into his junior year of hurting his leg, and that took care of the rest of the year. So, he was a little bit under the radar for some people, but not for some in the Big Ten and not for Tom Izzo. We love the fact that he has great toughness and he plays as hard as anybody I’ve seen, and yet he has very good shooting ability – he shot over 40% from the three-point line, so that combination of things will let him play two, and even three positions.
Matt McQuaid (G, 6-5, 180, Duncanville, Texas/Duncanville H.S.)
ESPN.com’s Jeff Goodman called him “arguably the best pure shooter in the country” Ranked the No. 65 player in the nation in the ESPN100, No. 68 by 24/7 Sports, and No. 72 by Rivals.com and Scout.com … Rated the No. 18 shooting guard in the nation by the ESPN100, No. 19 by 24/7 Sports, and No. 23 by Scout
Coach Tom Izzo on McQuaid: “In Matt McQuaid, we have another 6’5″ shooting guard who is skinny but a tremendous athlete, with unlimited range. When I first saw Matt in an AAU tournament, I couldn’t believe where he could shoot it from and how effortlessly he could shoot it. The connection for us, even though he is from Duncanville, Texas, is that his dad is from Midland and actually played a couple years at Central Michigan. Once Matt came up, I think he fell in love with the place and there’s no question that myself and my staff fell in love with him. I think he brings tremendous work ethic, he’s a student of the game and he’s a guy that’s going to be able to shoot it from anywhere in the 517 area code.”
Deyonta Davis (F/C, 6-10, 215, Muskegon, Mich./Muskegon H.S.)
Possesses a 7-foot-2 wingspan … Rated the No. 15 player in the nation in the ESPN100, No. 23 by Rivals.com and 24/7 Sports, and No. 29 by Scout.com … Rated the No. 5 power forward in the nation by Scout.com and the ESPN100, and the No. 5 center by 24/7 Sports.
Coach Tom Izzo on Davis: “In Deyonta Davis we have a 6′-10″ shot blocker who won a state championship and plays for a great coach in Muskegon. I think he has blossomed into something special with the best yet to come. He does remind me of an Adreian Payne. He runs the court and is very long, but he doesn’t shoot the ball bad either – in fact his shooting is improving each and every day as they work out. But his forte would be to run the court and block shots, and he is very good at that. ”
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and very often writes The Sports Bank.net ,which is partners with Fox Sports. Read his features stories in the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. Listen to him on 1620 The Zone. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks). His work has been featured in hundreds of media outlets including The Washington Post and ESPN 2