Both papers have stories on Darnell Dodson committing to Pitt this weekend. As Chris Dokish had noted in breaking the news of his verbal, Dodson is still learning how good he could be.
Steve Keller, a New Jersey-based recruiting analyst, agrees with Farrello about Dodson’s potential. Dodson is not currently ranked among the top 150 prospects in his class, but Keller believes he will be one of the overlooked recruits who will shine in college.
“Darnell Dodson is just starting to scratch the surface of what he can be down the road,” said Keller, who publishes Steve Keller’s National Recruiting Report.
“He has grown in the last year and the expectations have grown. He could be a 6-6 or 6-7 two-guard. If that happens, the sky is the limit. Pittsburgh saw the upside that not a lot of other people saw. If the kid works, he can be a superstar.”
Dodson’s high school coach Glen Farrello compared him to a former player of his, Delonte West who starred at St. Joseph’s and is now with the Boston Celtics.
The credit for landing Dodson is being given to new Pitt assistant Mike Rice.
One might think that David Cox, an assistant coach for Dodson’s Maryland-based AAU team who is expected to be offically named as director of basketball operations at Pitt in the coming days, had a key role in Dodson’s verbal commitment. But Farello indicated otherwise.
“Mike Rice … that’s how they got him,” Farello said of Pitt’s newest assistant coach, who joined the Panthers’ staff in June from St. Joseph’s.
Rice, who is the son of former Duquesne and Youngstown State coach Mike Rice, has been friends with Farello since the two met at the Eastern Basketball Invitational camp in Trenton, N.J.
“It was completely unrelated to (Cox) going there,” said Farello, whose coaching staff includes Dodson’s father, David. “It was already decided before that went down.
“I know people won’t believe that, but it’s simply a bonus to have them together. David (Cox) is not really known as an AAU coach as much as he is known as an assistant principal at (Washington) St. John’s College High School.”
A suspicious cynic might chalk some of that up to the usual tensions that can exist between high school coaches and administrators and AAU operations.
I assume most of you have been reading Dokish’s Dispatches from the ABCD Camp. Lots of interesting stuff.
