43
YSU’s Calhoun: Recruits must contribute right away
YOUNGSTOWN
First-year Youngstown State head men’s basketball coach Jerrod Calhoun has assembled largest incoming class in quite a while with eight players committed for the upcoming season.
The class includes four freshmen (Michael Akuchie, Naz Bohannon, Jacob Brown and Garett Covington), three junior college commits (Noe Anabir, Tyree Robinson and Alex Wilbourn) and one Division I transfer (Devin Morgan) who will have to sit out this year due to NCAA rules.
Calhoun said he and his staff had plenty to do when they arrived at YSU, but had to do much of the same at his previous job.
“We had a lot of needs we needed to fill,” Calhoun said. “We had a lot of work in a short period of time. My first year at Fairmont State we had to revamp the entire roster and signed around eight or nine guys. We went from eight wins the year before to 23 our first year.”
A traditional shortcoming of many mid-major recruiting classes is the lack of height and typically includes many guards. But Calhoun’s first class has five forwards, one center and one guard/forward combination player. Morgan is the one guard.
The average height of the new players available to play this upcoming season is 6-foot-7.
“We were looking at if these guys can run and their skill sets,” Calhoun said. “I like guys that can pass, catch and shoot. All of our guys will have the green light to shoot. We want a free-flowing offense and we want all of our bigs to be able to step out to go inside and outside.”
And for Morgan, who transferred from Delaware State, Calhoun thinks he will benefit greatly from going up against YSU’s current guards for an entire season.
“We were recruiting for this year and for the future,” Calhoun said. “We didn’t think we needed a point guard to play right away so to be able to get Devin, to sit him out and learn our system for a year, play against Francisco [Santiago] every day and push each other will be great.”
While YSU has six players returning from last year’s team, that’s not nearly enough for Calhoun’s up-tempo style on both ends of the court.
“[The incoming players] are going to have to [contribute right away],” Calhoun said. “We’re going to be playing 11 guys. We’ve committed to that style. We’re going to be non-stop, full-court pressure for 40 minutes and impose our will on teams. You have to have bodies to do that.”
Calhoun and his staff might have a look at some members of their future classes as well this summer. The program is hosting a one-day team camp on June 11. Director of Player Personnel Kevin Bruinsma tweeted Tuesday the camp already has 45 teams slated to participate.
“It will probably be the biggest camp in the history of Youngstown State basketball,” Calhoun said. “It’s going to be awesome. We’ll have 500-600 kids on campus for one day. They’ll get to see the rec center, the Beeghly Center.
“When you get them to campus, our numbers have been really good on landing these guys.”