Signing Day Begins with Two more Verbal Commitments

NewEnglandRecruitingReport.com | Tuesday, November 13th, 2007

Northfield Mount Hermon’s Josh Riddle and New Hampton’s Kendall Durant both made verbal commitments on Tuesday.  Today, both players are expected to sign their national letters of intent along with a variety of other local players. 

Riddle will be joining his NMH teammate David Rufful at Dartmouth.  The Colorado native was getting a wide range of interest from Ivy League Schools but ultimately decided to join the Big Green. 

“The academics and athletics were a great combination,” he said.  “Plus having the opportunity to go there with Dave is great.  I think we should both be able to earn playing time right away and hopefully win a lot of games together over the next four years.” 

Rufful and Riddle also share a deep appreciation for all of the people at Northfield Mount Hermon as Riddle was quick to echo his teammate’s sentiments from earlier in the week. 

“I didn’t have any opportunities before I got here,” Riddle said.  “Not only have they opened up doors for me to play college basketball, but the education I’m getting is going to prepare me for the Ivy League as well.” 

Durant, who has been widely impressive since arriving at New Hampton, committed to Virginia Tech of the ACC.  Securing a commitment from the powerful guard is a major recruiting victory for Virginia Tech Head Coach Seth Greenberg who beat out other programs including Penn State, Tulsa, South Carolina, St. John’s, and South Florida. 

But prior to arriving in Virginia, Durant has some unfinished business to attend to as he will anchor first year Head Coach Pete Hutchins’ line-up at New Hampton.  With his combination of power and skill, Durant could easily emerge as one of the best players in the NEPSAC this year. 

Other players expected to sign their National Letters of Intent today include:  Devin Ebanks to Indiana; Emmanuel Negedu to Arizona, Isaiah Thomas to Washington; David Gibbs to UMass; Allan Chaney to Florida; Assane Sene to Virginia; Christian Morris to Rutgers; Orion Outerbridge to Rhode Island; Johnny Higgins to Duquesne; Chris Prescott to St. Joseph’s; Mark Lyons to Xavier; Devin Hill to DePaul; Mike Howlett to Pennsylvania; Andrew Van Nest to Harvard; Patrick Saunders and Max Huc to Princeton; Jake O’Brien to Boston University; Ryan Olander to Fairfield; Greg Mangano and Reggie Willhite to Yale; Charles Abouo to BYU; Quasim Pugh to Charleston; RJ Evans to Holy Cross; Shane Gibson, Stanford Dulaire, Nick Greenbacker, and Steve Zazuri to Sacred Heart; Chris Baskerville to Central Connecticut; Pete Banos to Navy; Anthony Raffa to Albany; Melquan Bolding and Terrence Jennings to Louisville; Kimmie English to Missouri; James Southerland to Syracuse; Dawda Njie to Georgia Southern; and Anthony Crater to Ohio State.