Providence Recruiting Update: Jeff Battle Making His Presence Felt on the Trail

Bob Simon was Providence’s lead recruiter on many of the Friars’ top targets while he was part of Ed Cooley’s staff. With Simon now associate head coach at Alabama under Avery Johnson the task for Cooley was to bring in another strong recruiting assistant coach. He turned to old friend Jeff Battle. The differences between the two coach’s networks have been easy to spot. Battle has focused much of his attention in the first 4 months with the Friars on recruiting the states of Virginia and North Carolina. Both states are quite fertile with talented basketball prospects and Battle is getting Providence involved with some of the best players in those states, along with a few hidden gems that appear ready for a rise. Let’s jump in and see what Battle has been up to lately.

Battle Bringing Cooley to See Mintz

Davion Mintz was one of the first recruits — if not THE first — that Battle reached out to after being hired by Cooley. I’ve been a fan of Mintz from the moment I clicked play on the first highlight tape I saw of the 2016 point guard from Huntersville, NC.  Mintz ran with the Charlotte Nets on the grassroots circuit though they don’t play in one of the shoe company-sponsored leagues and he plays for his local high school — the North Mecklenburg Vikings.

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Battle has seen Mintz a few times, including during the live evaluation periods in July and now he is bringing Cooley down to North Mecklenburg HS to see Mintz, according to a source. The visit date isn’t set as of this writing but it will happen sometime this week, the source said. Mintz doesn’t have an offer yet from the Friars and the way I read the tea leaves on Battle bringing Cooley to see Mintz is that if Cooley likes what he sees he will offer. Mintz has offers from Bucknell, College of Charleston, Delaware, Fordham, Furman, Gardner-Webb, Georgia Southern, Marshall, Mercer, Northeastern, Radford, Rice, Robert Morris, UNC-Wilmington, Wofford and Yale. In addition he also hosted UTEP for an in-home visit last week and Creighton, Kansas State and Wichita State are all expected to take in a workout this week, according to Rick Lewis of PhenomHoopReport.com.

Friars Offer 2017 Guard Mario Haskett

Mario Haskett is yet another player from the grassroots program River City Reign that Providence has become involved with since Jeff Battle was hired. Providence is set to get official visits from two 2016 players — Maliek White and JJ Matthews — from the Richmond-based grassroots program during the first weekend of October. Haskett ran with the 16U team this year and plays at L.C. Bird High School during the school year. Haskett also has offers from Cincinnati, High Point, Hofstra, James Madison, Longwood, Murray State, Old Dominion, Richmond, Robert Morris, Towson and VCU.

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Haskett is an excellent student with a 4.2 GPA at L.C. Bird and recently told Corey Evans of HoopSeen.com that  “I see myself as a one. But I can play alongside another point guard as well but I think that spot is the position where I can contribute the most at.” He went on later in that interview to discuss what he is looking for in a school. “Everyone wants a family atmosphere but I want a school that even after I leave the school, that it will benefit me in the real world and for life after basketball.”

News and Notes

• Providence was on hand at 6am on September 9th at Putnam Science Academy to see, among a couple others, 2016 PF Sedee Keita. Keita attended Providence’s Elite Camp this year on August 8th and played pickup at the Dunk back on August 31st. His assistant coach at PSA told TheState.com that Keita “may take an official visit to Providence.” The full Friar staff was also at Putnam Science Academy Monday morning for the 6am workout.
• The Friars will host 2016 wing Jalen Johnson for an official visit beginning on September 18th.

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Mike Hopkins

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