by: Griffin Bennett
It seem like the rumors are true. The coaching carousel that occurs at the end of every season leaves some recruits high and dry. When Jeff Capel was fired at Oklahoma, Richard Peters was one of those recruits left lost for words.
In an interview with Dawgman.com’s Chris Fetters today (subscription only), the 6’10” Canadian native talked about how the firing of Capel three weeks ago “turned his world upside down”. Peters had been committed to Oklahoma for almost two years but now is forced to reconsider his options. While I won’t regurgitate all of Mr. Fetters’ article, Peters has a connection with UW assistant Raphael Chillious as Coach Chill coached him in the 2009 Jordan Brand Classic.
Fetters has Peters quoted as saying:
"“I’m open to every other school, but my favorite right now is the University of Washington,”."
On the other hand, Alex Kline of Zagsblog.com has Peters quoted as saying:
"“I have no true favorites at the moment but Washington is high on the list. As for now, my favorite is still going to be Oklahoma. I just wanted to open up my recruitment because of the coaching change and not close the door on other options. I just got off the phone with the new assistant, Ben Betts, minutes ago and the love is strong.”"
In Fetters article, Peters states that he is planning on being eligible for 2011 as he only has to take (and pass) the ACT which he is doing this week. He also stated that he plans on visiting UW as soon as he can get the ACT completed.
Impact:
While not having seen any film on this kid (please pass some along if you can find it) it sounds like a tremendous fit. He would be a young kid with 4 years to play 5 while also being good enough ti immediately impact next season. Romar’s patience in the recruiting process may be paying off as many other schools don’t have room to fit in a kid with this much talent.
Here is my take on the scholarship situation currently. Andrew Andrews will take Isaiah Thomas’ “spot” in 2011 instead of heading to prep school next year. From what we are hearing here at MM, the Huskies seem to be cooling off on Kevin Davis who has been committed to UW for over a year. For now, I am taking Davis out of the scholarship count until I hear otherwise. That would leave two spots available for 2011. Adding a couple big men like Peters and God’s Gift Achiuwa would be my perfect scenario to end the recruiting year. Achiuwa would provide immediate scoring help at the power forward spot for the next two years while Peters would be a great addition to the bench as well as the long term future. Sign me up for that.