Chris Dokish, Pittsburgh Recruiting

DARNELL DODSON READIES FOR PITT, BIG EAST

JUCO coach calls return to Pitt ‘a done deal’, Pitt looks at JUCO Center

By Chris Dokish

One of Pittsburgh’s best recruits last season only played in informal workouts at the school before being informed by the NCAA Clearinghouse that he was ineligible. But that hasn’t stopped Darnell Dodson from his ongoing pursuit of the NBA- or his desire to play for Pitt.

Dodson, originally from Eleanor Roosevelt HS in Greenbelt, MD, was already taking classes at Pitt when the NCAA let it be known that he could not play. Because he was already taking classes at the school, he was not allowed to go to prep school and instead had to go to a junior college for two years. The junior college chosen by Dodson was Miami-Dade Junior College in Florida.

“It happens more often then people think,” says Miami-Dade coach Matt Eisele, when asked about Dodson’s situation. “But usually it doesn’t happen at a high level so that’s why it seemed unusual to a lot of people.”

All of that is behind Dodson now and Eisele says that Dodson is ready to return to Pitt.

“He’s definitely coming back to Pitt,” says Eisele. “There’s no question. That’s a done deal.”

When Dodson does eventually get to Pitt he will have three years of eligibility left since he redshirted last season at Miami-Dade. The purpose of the redshirt was to have an extra year of eligibility at Pitt, not because he wasn’t ready physically.

“He would have made an impact at Pitt last year,” says Eisele. “When he does eventually get there, he is going to make a huge impact now. He has grown an inch since he’s been here and he’s now about 6’7 ½” or 6’8” and about 217 pounds. And just in practices, you can tell he’s a lot, lot better. He’s more athletic now and as for his shooting, forget about it. He can shoot lights out. The only thing he has to work on is his defense.”

Eisele says Dodson is best at small forward but his versatility is unquestioned. “He can play the two, the three, or the four,” he says, “and at practices last year, I even had him bringing the ball up the floor. But I think he will mostly be a three at Pitt.”

Eisele expects that Miami-Dade could be one of the top five junior college teams in the country next season and his entire starting five is expected to go on to play at a four year college. That’s not surprising since many on the roster have already played at a higher level or already signed coming out of high school.

One such player is 6’9” 230 pound William Coleman, who originally signed with Arkansas-Little Rock before, like Dodson, being told he was ineligible. Also, like Dodson, Coleman could eventually be headed to Pittsburgh.

“I don’t want to get into who all has offered William yet,” says Eisele, who adds that the offers are very impressive, “but Darnell has been recruiting him hard and Pitt is definitely in his top three, I’ll say that much.”

According to Eisele, Coleman, who projects at both center and power forward in college, is a special player.

“He’s 6’9” 230 pounds, has a 7’2” wingspan, and a 40+” vertical,” says Eisele. “He’s a freak of nature. He was an unknown in high school because he lived out in the country in Georgia and didn’t really play AAU ball. But now he may be the best junior college big man in the country. And on top of that, he is the nicest kid I ever coached. He also has a 3.0 GPA. He’s learned his lesson about school.”

As a freshman at Miami-Dade, Coleman averaged 10.8 ppg, 9.5 rbg, and over four blocks a game. In January, he was named the junior college National Player of the Week when he averaged 15.3 ppg, 15.7 rbg, 5.0 bpg, and shot 68% over a three game span.

While Eisele doesn’t want to get into specifics, he thinks he has two other players that could get Big East interest. One, 6’1” point guard James Beatty, led the team with 6.3 apg and 2.8 spg as a freshman, while also averaging 10.4 ppg. Beatty is originally from Wilmington, NC. The other, 6’3” combo guard Rico Pickett, was one of the best guard prospects in the country two years, and ended up at Alabama. However, after starting 20 games as a true freshman, the Decatur, AL native was ruled ineligible.

Chris Dokish is a NBE Basketball Report contributor as well as a contributing editor of the Pittsburgh Sports Report where his stories are often featured in their Keystone Recruiting newsletter series, which you can sign up for free at their website.

Related articles:

JUCO Big Man Has Big East Interest (NBE Basketball Report)
Pittsburgh Looking at 2008 Guard, 2009 Big Men (NBE Basketball Report)
Former Glenwood Star Receiving D-I Attention (Columbus (GA) Preps Blog)

Be Sociable, Share!

•