With season just around the corner, recruiting news has been slow in coming, but our dedicated recruiting specialists at MI have found some good tidbits of information this week to satisfy everyone’s craving for new recruiting news.
Football News
Wide receiver Chris Harper (6-feet, 165 pounds) from Encino, CA (Crespi Carmelite HS), received an offer from UTEP last week. Harper now has offers from Georgia Tech, Colorado, SMU, Cal Poly, Montana and UC Davis. He is currently rated the #106 wide receiver and 3-stars by scout.com; rivals.com rates him as the #86 wide receiver with 3-stars. Harper had 63 receptions for 1,003 yards and seven touchdowns as a junior.
The Miners are also showing some interest in running back Trae Bunton (5-feet 9-inches, 170 pounds) and defensive end John Horne (6-feet 3-inches, 200 pounds) from Bastrop, TX.
Defensive end Daniel Shaul has an official visit with UTEP on October 21st.
Basketball News
Anthony January’s scouting grade went up from an 89 to a 91. He is still at 3-stars and is rated as the #26 forward in the nation by espn.com.
The Miners are looking at forward David Andoh (6-feet 6-inches, 200 pounds) from San Jose, CA (IMG Academy). He is rated a 2-star recruit with an 97 grade by espn.com. According to ESPN, Andoh has a solid physique with long arms and an ideal shoulder base to play inside and out at the next level. He has solid bounce and good enough quickness to be a face-up 4-man as well. Andoh has a potent mid-range jump shot and a very quick first step. Andoh plays hard at both ends and can score in bunches.On the flip side, there are areas that need improvement. Defensively, Andoh needs to bend his knees and become a better defender due to his size and strength. In addition, Andoh has a tendency to play in spurts at both ends. Although Andoh can score, his overall approach to the game needs polishing. He has a tendency to hunt shots and the ball dies in his hands far too often, leading to careless turnovers and forced shots. Bottom line is: Andoh is an intriguing prospect. Due to his size and athletic package, he’s projecting more as a skilled face-up 4-man for the mid-major level. If Andoh can slow down and implement passing to his offensive arsenal, he could be a solid Division I prospect.
In women’s basketball, UTEP is looking at Lauren Evans. Evans is an athletic long lock down defender with good offensive tools. Lauren does a great job of getting inside an opponent’s defense, whether off the drive or in the cut to knock down that 10 to 15 foot jumper. Evans does need to improve her dribble and become a more consistent shooter beyond the arc.
Angel Luna can be reached at show@minerillustrated.com.
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good job Angel, I’m big on January, but something tells me he is just using UTEP until some bigger fish come along. If you watch videos of this guy, he is amazing. He plays strong, he can shoot, handle, drive, and finish. I know the guy’s got most of the PAC-12 watching, and other schools in that region as well. He is currently being home schooled while he is “trying to make up some classes”, in January’s own words. If he gets his academics in line, he’ll undoubtedly have plenty of offers from bigger schools. I just hope CTF can keep this one on the hook.
Where can you find the current commitments that UTEP is currently holding for the upcoming season? I have read on the Miner Rush in Autrey Golden opting for UTEP over offers from North Texas, North Dakota, and Colorado St. With many of these commitments that have been posted by the two covering sites, how many verbal commitments do the Miners currently have? Can anyone put a short piece out covering the total amount of recruits for the upcoming class? Rivals.com is still showing only 2 players for next season, thanks guys!
Anthony- You are right, nothing is guaranteed until they sign that letter of intent, but if the Miners can hold on to him and he gets his academics in order he will be a huge get for CTF and his staff. I believe he is going to be attending St. John Bosco High (same high school as Cezar Guerrero who the Miners were pursuing last year before he ended up at Okla. State). They have a pretty good basketball program and we will be monitoring his senior year so be on the look out this fall.
John- You are correct on Autrey Golden, here is a news story (probably one of the ones you are referring to) from Conroe news regarding his commitment to the Miners – http://tinyurl.com/3uhra48
If you check out the previous Scouting Mine’s you will find the previous verbal commits and keep coming back as Angel and the staff bring more recruiting info to the site.
Thanks for the comments.
In addition to Autrey Golden, MI was noted the the following additional verbal commitments:
DL Glen Antoine
DL Silas Priestly
DL Daniel Shaul
WR JaQuan White
QB Garrett Simpson