Pittsburgh SG Lands USF Offer
With one First Love Christian Academy (Washington, PA) player on its roster – David Collins – and one of the finalists to get a commitment from another – Prince Oduro – it may be too early to use the ‘pipeline’ cliché, but last night South Florida offered First Love shooting guard Jason ‘J.J.’ Eubank.
Suffice it to say, a good relationship exists between the Western Pennsylvania Academy and the Temple Terrace University.
Suffice it to say, a good relationship exists between the Western Pennsylvania Academy and the Temple Terrace University.
“Actually I was surprised but they have been recruiting me for a long time,” Eubank said of the Bulls offer. “Coach Khay (Khayree Wilson, head coach at First Love) had been talking to one of the assistant coaches and he was going back and forth with them. He talked with Coach Khay first and then he ended up texting me and said they just met with the staff and wanted to let me know that they’re offering me a scholarship. Coach Tom [Herrion] texted me. You know there’s a First Love player down there named David Collins and another one named Prince [Oduro], he is considering USF.”
Eubank admitted that he only knows a little bit about USF right now.
“I kinda know a little bit about the school,” he said. “I’ve heard it’s a good school, the coaching staff is good, the campus is nice, but I haven’t been able to see for myself yet. Prince [Oduro] actually just took an official visit down there so I heard about his visit. It was really nice, he liked the weather down there, and the campus. It was nice to see Dave, he hadn’t seen Dave in a while. Those were the main things he was talking about.”
Has Collins been recruiting Eubank?
“No, he hasn’t tried to recruit me to USF but I do stay in contact with him and he was texting me about the offer,” said Eubank.
In addition to USF, the 6-foot-4, 175 pound Eubank currently holds offers from Bowling Green, DePaul, Drexel, Massachusetts, Monmouth, New Mexico and Robert Morris. All of Eubank’s offers have come in the past four months, something he gives credit to being healthy and to playing for First Love Christian Academy (FLCA).
“Going into my freshman year I had a broken leg,” said Eubank. “I ended up playing part way through my freshman year, but where it really probably came from was my transfer from a public school [Penn Hills High School] to First Love. That’s when my recruitment took off.”
Changing schools is something that Eubank also feels helped his game progress.
“I have a different mentality going into the games,” he said. “The school I was at before was slow-paced basketball. You run a play every time down the court. Since I’ve transferred I’ve learned to pick up the pace, like more of a college paced game, and I can score easier with less dribbling.”
Eubank took an unofficial visit to Drexel a month ago and has taken unofficial visits with his teammates to West Virginia and Monmouth. Eubank said that West Virginia also invited him to their game against Kentucky. Eubank added that he is working on scheduling an unofficial visit to Temple.
Every recruitment has its own pace and since Eubank’s recruitment is just taking off, none of the coaches or schools have separated themselves from the others…yet.
“I enjoy talking to all the coaches that I am associated with,” Eubank said. “I wouldn’t say I have a better relationship with any of them but a lot of them have been helping me out, like, presenting me with workout things that I can work on with my game and stuff so that’s nice.”
Eubank runs with N.Y. Lightning in the Nike EYBL and RunningTheBulls.com has watched two of his games including a 15 point, five rebound, two steal and one assist performance in Dallas against the Rose City Rebels. That game has been the highlight of his EYBL season and Eubank hopes to return to that type of performance.
“Actually I think I’ve played okay,” said Eubank of his travel season. “I haven’t particularly played to the best of my ability and my playing time is a little limited playing with the Lightning. I feel like it was just okay and not what I could have done.”
Stay with RunningTheBulls.com for updates on Jason Eubank’s recruitment by the Bulls.