Wright Headed to LIU for 09-10 Season
The fact that Corey Wright Jr. has earned a full scholarship to play division I college basketball doesn’t come as much of a surprise to those who have seen him play over the last four years.
What may surprise some is that he’ll head to Long Island University in just a couple of weeks and join their incoming freshmen class.
Wright was officially listed as a junior and member of the class of 2010 on Marianapolis Prep’s roster last year. But it was actually his fourth year of high school after reclassifying and repeating his sophomore season a year earlier.
Because he had taken enough core classes throughout his four years and earned a qualify SAT score, Wright was free to go to college immediately instead of returning to high school or prep school for his originally schedule final season.
“I was planning on going down to military school in Virginia,” Wright said. “LIU called a little after Vegas and they wanted me to come up and told me I could make an immediate impact.”
Wright took an unofficial visit to the metropolitan campus this weekend and made a verbal commitment not long afterwards.
“It’s right in the city and I’m from New York,” Wright said. “My family and my friends are all in the area so that was a big part of it.”
Also attractive about the LIU opportunity was the chance to step right in and play big minutes.
“LIU jumped on me because their point guard had to go back to his home country at the last minute,” he said. “Coach Ferry is a good dude, a lot like Coach Dave [Vitale]. He likes scoring guards and he’s going to give me some freedom to play the way I play.”
While Wright grew up in New York, he moved to Rhode Island with his family when he was an 8th grader. He quickly developed the reputation as one of the state’s top talents and played two years at St. Raphael’s High School before transferring to Marianapolis Prep.
He starred for his father, former Providence College player Corey Sr., early in his AAU days with the Rhode Island Young Bucs, and then played for Expressions Elite last season and the first part of this year before running with New Heights over the summer.
LIU is getting a playmaking guard who is at his best at a quick tempo. He consistently creates for both himself and his teammates and has the talent to be one of the top freshmen guards in the NEC next season.
Corey Wright Jr.