USF To Host A Big Visitor Sept. 1
Oak Hill Academy senior three-star center Brian Mack Jr., known to most as B.J., has scheduled two official visits in September, with programs in the American Athletic Conference, to South Florida and East Carolina.
The visits were first reported by Zachary Lyon of Prep Insiders
Mack, a 6-foot-8, 250-pounder with a 7-foot wingspan ran with Team CP3 in the Nike EYBL where he averaged 11.3 points, 5.7 rebounds and one assist per game while shooting 54 percent from the field. Team CP3 finished the EYBL season 13-3 and made it to the quarter finals of the Nike Peach Jam in July. In addition to USF and ECU, Mack holds offers from DePaul, George Mason, Murry State, Ole Miss, Saint Louis and several others. Middle Tennessee State, Georgia and N.C. State offered prior to those programs having a coaching change.
RunningTheBulls.com spoke with Brian Mack Sr. to get an update on B.J.
“It’s going really well,” the Mack said of his son’s recruitment. “Right now he stands at I think thirteen solid offers. We were committed to Virginia Tech once he decommitted from Virginia Tech it was kind of slow and stagnant for a while but after the first two sessions of the EYBL it kind of picked up again. We still have a lot of what people would consider your blue bloods or your high D1s still wanting to see how he does at Oak Hill compared to the summer. So it could go either way for him. Right now he’s in a good place I think the schools that have really been in touch with him, South Florida, ECU, Ole Miss, Arkansas, B.J. just has to choose what is going to fit right for him.”
The two visits will be the first time on either campus for B.J. who was initially recruited by coaches at both schools when they were at previous schools – USF assistant coach Larry Dixon and ECU assistant coach Steve Roccaforte (a onetime USF assistant under Stan Heath).
“Coach Dixon has been a close family friend for years,” Mack said. “He was at Georgia Southern and every time he saw B.J. he was like ‘Mack I’d love to have him, I’d love to have him’. When he got the job at South Florida he was like ‘Mack I told ya I want a chance to recruit B.J. I think the situation I’m at now is a great platform for him’. Coach [Brian] Gregory has been fantastic at recruiting B.J. Coach Dixon actually coached my nephew in high school, Jeremy Goode, so we’ve had years of a relationship. So I know Coach Dixon very well, he’s a very close family friend.”
Goode went on to play for Mount Saint Mary’s in the Northeast Conference from 2006-2010.
“The one thing I do love about Coach Roc is that he has been honest and upfront with us from the very beginning. When the situation went down with Virginia Tech Coach Roc used to call me and B.J. every day after that. I feel like as a recruiter you have some people out here who just tell parents what they want to hear to be able to get the kid to commit to that school but I think Coach Roc has been honest and straightforward with us. Then he got the job at ECU, he called me right after he got the job, and was like ‘Mack would B.J. consider ECU.’”
The family has not scheduled any other visits at this time and Mack went on to explain why that is.
“I’m an old traditionalists, I leave a lot to his coaches to handle,” Mack said. “I know they want to talk to me but as far as B.J. being at Oak Hill and his day-to-day development, Coach [Steve] Smith would know more about that than me because Coach Smith sees him day-to-day. So they go back to school on August the 25 and there’s two weeks in-between the time school starts and he really gets into practice. So he likes most of those guys to take their visits during those two weeks. He doesn’t like a lot of guys to take visits until we get into the season. So those two will be the first two we take and once Coach Smith says it is okay for the guys to start getting back out and taking visits then we’ll look at going in and doing B.J.’s last couple of visits.”
We had an opportunity to watch three of Mack’s EYBL games and came away impressed with him. Mack is skilled offensively and a good offensive rebounder. Against the No. 1 prospect in the 2019 class, Vernon Carey, Mack held his own to finish with 16 points, six rebounds and one steal. He scored with post moves, hit a floater from just inside FT circle, and knocked down a jumper from the elbow. Three point shooting is not Mack’s specialty but he showed that he can hit them off the catch if he is open, his feet are set and he’s in rhythm, like against Boo Williams when he knocked down a couple of corner threes and one from just left of the top of the arc.
“He’s really worked on his game and expanded his game because he is considered an undersized center,” Mack said. “He has worked on having more tools in his bag than a traditional center would have.”
Stay with RunningTheBulls.com for future updates on the recruitment of B.J. Mack.