Providence coaches began watching Ricky Council play basketball starting with the early summer of 2014 when they were in need of guard depth following the transfer of Josh Fortune just before Memorial Day. Council was a member of the class of 2014 back then and was little known nationally as he had opted to remain at his local public school and play for an AAU team in Brand X that wasn’t sponsored by any of the big shoe companies.The Friar staff opted not pull the trigger on an offer to Council back then.
That changed on Monday night.
As I reported, associate head coach Bob Simon was scheduled to attend a practice at Moravian Prep in Hickory, NC to specifically watch Council on Monday. Since deciding to do a postgrad year to boost his rcecruiting stock, Council has had some explosive offensive games at Moravian. Apparently Simon saw enough during that practice to extend a scholarship offer to the 6’4 scorer. The offer was first reported by Rick Lewis of Phenom Hoops Report via Twitter.
Back in early July 2014 I spoke to Rick Lewis about Council’s game:
“Rick Lewis described Council to me as an athletic player with a nice mid range game and quick first step who is also efficient from 3. Lewis mentioned Council is a bright student and humble kid who has been flying a bit under the radar. He characterized [Council] as a mid major plus to high major minus player and Lewis believes Council can play at the Big East level.”
From what I’ve been able to gather the Providence offer appears to be Council’s first high major offer to date. He has had interest from the likes of Wake Forest, Virginia Tech, Rutgers, Missouri, Clemson, Maryland and recently Marquette. However none of that interest has turned into an offer yet from any of those schools. A source told me Monday that they believe Council’s “end game” is to play in the ACC. No ACC schools have officially offered yet though which leads me to believe Council may allow his recruitment to drag on into the spring as he holds out for a possible offer from an ACC school.
Providence has 1 open scholarship for the 2015 class at this moment and shooters than can space the floor seem to be something that Ed Cooley and his staff have been hunting since the summer. Council can certainly shoot the ball and has excellent size at the shooting guard spot. It remains to be seen who Providence likes best of the remaining guards they are involved with or what an offer to Council might say about their confidence level in landing a player like Kobie Eubanks. This will be an interesting story to follow as a background story to the 2014-15 season. Stay tuned.
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[…] ICYMI – Providence Becomes 2015 Ricky Council’s First High Major Offer […]
[…] This recruiting trip comes on the heels of associate head coach Bob Simon traveling to Hickory, NC to watch 2015 guard Ricky Council and his Moravian Prep team practice. Simon offered Council Monday night. […]
[…] Providence was the first high major offer for Council back on January 12th after associate head coach Bob Simon took in a practice at Moravian Prep. The rumor surrounding Council was always that he wanted to play in the ACC and my fear was he would allow his recruitment to carry on deep into the spring as he awaited an offer from someone in that conference. Apparently his visit to Providence the weekend of February 13th-15th was enough to convince both Council and his parents that Providence was the place for him despite the distance from home. Council joins Drew Edwards, Ryan Fazekas and Alex Owens in Providence’s 2015 recruiting class. […]