DePaul Recruiting, Rutgers Recruiting, St. John's Recruiting

JAMES BEATTY RECRUITING UPDATE

Miami-Dade CC point guard has plenty of high-major conference interest

It was quite of a collection of talent on the 2008-2009 Miami-Dade College Sharks roster. With Memphis commits Darnell Dodson and Will Coleman, along with Minnesota signee and Southern Conference Player of the year Trevor Mbakwe, who played his freshman season at Marquette, Rico Pickett, the former Alabama guard who is now being recruited by the likes of Tennessee, Florida and Florida State and point guard James Beatty, who is a hot commodity among several high major programs heading into the spring recruiting period. All five players were honored as 1st-team All-Southern Conference.

Beatty, a native of Wilmington (NC), set a Miami-Dade school record with 16 assists in a game and finished the 2008-2009 season averaging 13.4 Points, 7.9 Assists, and 2.7 Steals per game. The 6-foot-2, 195-pound point guard also shot 39% from three-point range.

“The Biggest impact was his leadership and knowledge for the game,” Miami-Dade head coach Matt Eisele told NBE. “He is a basketball player!”

Coach Eisele also believes Beatty will do what it takes to excel at the high-major level in the future. He will certainly have the opportunity as he is one of the most highly recruited prospects in the JUCO ranks that is currently un-committed.

“(Beatty) understands how hard you have to work to be a good Division 1 player at the highest level,” Eisele says. “He has such a great feel for the game and really makes his teammates better. (He) can really shoot the basketball as well.”

Currently, Beatty is being recruiting by Rutgers, St. John’s and DePaul from the Big East as well as the likes of Baylor, LSU and Kentucky among others.

“James has expressed to me he will be patience with his decision and there is no leader at this time,” said coach Eisele.

The process of heading towards a decision is likely to be put into motion in the very near future. Beatty will head out on an official visit this coming weekend and one Big East school is definitely going to try and put their best foot-forward while he is on their campus.

“He will visit Rutgers next weekend,” said his coach. “That is the only visit he has committed to at this time.”

With point guard being a point of emphasis on the recruiting trail for Fred Hill Jr. and the staff of the Scarlet Knights, it definitely looks like Beatty has become their priority recruit at the position this spring. Will a Rutgers visit tempt Beatty to pull the trigger? That will be the question RU fans will be wondering for the next week as they await the answer anxiously.