EL PASO, TEXAS – According to a blog post by Michael Carvill of the Atlanta Journal Constitution, an offer has been sent to Westlake High’s Marcus Thorton.
Thorton, a 6-foot 7 inch 295 pound forward wasn’t a highly-touted prospect in his junior season,but that changed when he averaged a double-double (24 points and 12 rebounds) during his senior season at Westlake. His efforts aided his high school squad en route to a state championship game in Georgia’s largest classification.
Thorton had originally committed to Clemson but was granted a release from his letter of intent after coach Oliver Purnell left to accept the head coaching job at DePaul.
Thorton’s offer sheet as of Monday at 11 p.m., according to the blog post, is Kentucky, Florida, Texas, Michigan, Auburn, UTEP, Georgia Tech, Georgia, Clemson and Alabama.
He was also expected to speak with Memphis and Tennessee on Tuesday, while in-home visits from Kentucky, Georgia and Georgia Tech are scheduled in the next two weeks.
Updated commit list
As of right now, the Miners have two commitments for the 2010 signing class: John Bohannon and Darrious Curry. MI’s Danny Levario is reporting that Curry is more than likely close to asking for a release from his UTEP letter of intent after speaking with his coach Michael Hornsby of Stratford High School through e-mail messages.
Jamison Sterns asked for his release from his UTEP letter of intent according to Damon Sayles of Texas Hoops.com. Stern said he liked coach Floyd but the two had different agendas. Matt Korchek, a 6-foot 9 inch 210 center prospect from Tuscon, Ariz., is still showing as a commit according to Rivals.com.
Keep checking back to Miner Illustrated for the latest information on UTEP basketball and football recruiting.
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Looks like a longshot but nice to see Utep in the running with the big boys from power conferences.
Korcheck, the center from Arizona I assume is no longer a signed commitment as previously reported. With Curry (confirmed gone), Sterns and Korcheck it appears we have a class consisting of Bohannon. It is unlikely we have any realistic shot at Purnell and this leaves us with Bohannon as our only confirmed commitment. With Moultrie apparently close to leaving and Caracter gone we are a situation critical..
We make have a shot at Polee which would be a huge plus. Other than Polee and Purnell (IMO, little chance of coming this way) the remaining reported recruits from the various sites are all unrated and with no offers. Doesn’t bode well for building for the future. Tim just simply can’t build a recruiting class from ground zero in one week with one assistant just hired. Reportedly we are looking at one JC center who has no offers. I’ve purged the recruiting lists, and the UTEP commitments with signed LOI’s are all given a chance to be released, if asked. Apparently, this is not generally the case with other schools with coaching changes this year.. I honestly think we need four quality recruits to be able to start to rebuild for 2011. Bohannon is the first step………….after I believe we will struggle to find quality players if we don’t sign Polee. Check any uncommitted lists at any basketball site and you find only few 3 star players available…………the list primarily is composed of sleepers with no Division I offers. I believe we will take the JC center we are recruiting (no other offers), hopefully hold on to Bohannon (a future superstar) and perhaps have a shot at Polee (another superstar waiting to happen) and perhaps try to land the best available point guard. I’m hopefully……..but while Tim is a miracle worker he has been handed a very tough situation.
Utep66, nice info and somewhat bittersweet. Coach Floyd defintely has his hands full. Defintely pulling for Floyd to land Polee and hitting juco ranks might be enough to hold it together when the seniors are gone next year. We can’t judge his signees this spring too harshly because the deck is stacked against him. Hopefully he can pull off a couple miner miracles and get a couple guys who can contribute
soon.
66,
It’s a tough situation no doubt. All recruits, to my understanding, were given the option to stay or leave after speaking with Floyd. Moultrie should be back next season after my brief talks with players. Dunno where this rumor started but it would be odd for him to leave at this point.
Seems like Bohanon will stay. Haven’t heard much about Korcheck, any news there whether he staying or going? 66 mentioned juco player any info regarding juco ranks?
We’re trying like heck to get a hold of Korcheck so, keep a lookout on the site for any developments on our end.
Thanks for update on Korcheck. You guys hearing anything about Titus Rubles, SF, from Dallas I think. ESPN recruiting webpage has him still unsigned and interested in UTEP among others (colo st, tulane, and south Alabama). Just curious if you guys have heard anything about Rubles?
The Miners are in on two JUCOs to my knowledge. The aforementioned Rubles and George McGrew. It’s going to be a busy few weeks for Floyd and company who have literally hit the floor running.
Can you guys shed any light on Moultrie rumors? One has him working out in Atlanta to test NBA waters and other has him possibly applying for hardship transfer to join TB in Auburn. Interesting stuff but just message board rumors at this point. Maybe writing could be on wall with Rashanti Harris signing (allegedly).
Carlos, is Rubles a JC? I believe Rubles is in high school/prep school (God’s Academy, Dallas)., but I could be wrong.
The rumored signing is Harris is good news, if he is able to qualify. Have you heard anything at all on Polee after his visit to St. John’s?
Rubles is a God’s Academy player. It’s a basketball factory / organized team for home school kids essentially. My understanding is that their academic credentials have to be certified via a different school in order for the NCAA to recognize them.
minerfan is correct. Miswrote my previous comment.