Spent some time with
@MattVender at Temple's team camp yesterday for a few hours. Matt talked to 2017 Union Catholic big man
Jordan Pierce (Seton Hall, Temple, ECU offers) and Lynn Greer III, who will be a freshman this year at Roman Catholic High School.
As North Broad and others have posted, Temple doled out a few offers yesterday. One went to
Jelani Williams, a 6-foot-5 guard from Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C. He has an
offer sheet that includes Penn, Princeton, Hofstra, JMU, Rice and others. Williams didn't play yesterday but came by during the end of the day to see the staff. He was at Villanova's team camp Friday and is getting interest from their staff as well. I'm scheduled to interview him tomorrow afternoon.
Temple also offered Hatboro Horsham's
Clifton Moore. Some sites have him listed at 6-10, but he looked closer to 6-8 to me. He's a really intriguing player who probably gets hurt a bit in terms of exposure because he's not on the shoe circut (Nike, Under Armour, etc.), but he really stood out yesterday. Very skilled, long and athletic, and he hit what looked like a beyond-halfcourt shot to win a game yesterday. I believe George Washington, La Salle and Princeton are among his higher offers. To me, in the limited time I saw him yesterday, he made an impression and really comes across as an intriguing talent. Shawn Trice was around Moore and his family a lot yesterday and walked them out of the Pearson-McGonigle facility.
As for Pierce, I saw him in a late-morning game, the same one Moore won with the halfcourt bomb. He's tall and looks like he's starting to develop a D-I frame, but I didn't see anything discernible - yet - that would make someone take notice. It's the only time I've seen him play, so my sample size is small, but I can see why just about everyone I've talked to is in wait-and-see mode with him. If he continues to develop and has a good senior season, then Temple will have done well by getting in early. We'll see.
Justyn Mutts, who plays at South Jersey's St. Augustine Prep and with Team Final, picked up an offer. He's 6-7, athletic, smart and very well coached. I used to cover that program, and Mutts' coach, Paul Rodio, has more career coaching wins than anyone in South Jersey, including Clarence Turner (coached DaJuan Wagner and others at Camden) and former Camden Catholic coach Jim Crawford. Mutts has offers from St. Joe's, La Salle, GW, Saint Louis, VCU, an Ivy offer from Brown and several others. A few people I talked to yesterday described him as a high-level glue guy - maybe not a kid who will eventually become his team's leading scorer, but a versatile, athletic starter who plays at a high level, "the type of kid who would help you win an NCAA Tournament game," one evaluator said.
Baltimore Poly's De'Vondre Perry's team was there yesterday, but I didn't get a chance to see him or catch up with him. I believe he was watching his team's first game due to being a little banged up. I'm not sure if he played eventually, but he's been mentioned here in discussion. He's a strong, 6-6, 220-pound small forward with offers from Temple, St. Joe's, Seton Hall, Kansas State and others.
As for 2018 recruits, Aaron McKie spent a lot of time yesterday with McDonogh (Owings Mills, MD) High School shooting guard
Noah Locke, who already has offers from Cincinnati, Tulsa, VCU, USC and UNC-Greensboro.
As far as emptying the notebook with any other tidbits of information, a local AAU coach told me he thinks Imhotep's Daron Russell will ultimately end up elsewhere, most likely because he'll look at the Temple roster and see that the Owls already have someone just like him in incoming freshman point guard Alani Moore. Russell told City of Basketball Love's Varun Kumar that his first visit will likely be to SMU. ... Speaking of Alani Moore, I had a chance to chat with him yesterday. I've said it before, but I really like his makeup. He's a smart, approachable kid, but I think he's all business and knows he very well may be starting this season. We've talked - probably at nauseating length - on our podcast about the program needing tough guards, and he fits that description. I think Temple fans will really like him. ... Trey Lowe was at the facility yesterday as well. Great to see him walking around. I did not talk to him and have kept some distance in terms of trying to do a story as he continues to recover. He's made great progress since his accident and still has some hurdles to clear with his left hand from what I was told yesterday. Again, I'm not sure anyone can say with any certainly if he'll play this season, but Trey is trying his hardest to get to that point. I continue to get the sense that he's really respected and loved by his teammates in a very genuine way in terms of how he handles himself on and off the court. ... As we've said before, dealing with injuries to Lowe and Josh Brown is a double whammy because they have two of the toughest and most fearless attitudes and approaches on the team. Brown was there yesterday and was getting some shots up while wearing a boot. He's still getting around on a scooter that allows him to keep his left leg off the ground. No official timetable or prognosis on his return. ... Several former Temple standouts and players were at the camp yesterday, including Mark Tyndale, Marc Jackson, Lynn Greer, Lynard Stewart, Levan Alston Sr., TJ DiLeo, Ramone Moore and Scootie Randall.
