Providence’s first public appearance at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center for the 2016-17 season is about a week away when the Friars will play an exhibition game against Canadian school Carleton University on October 29th. The season being right around the corner doesn’t mean that the Providence coaching staff has taken their foot off the pedal on the recruiting trail, though. Providence extended an offer to a 2019 big man this week and has recently expressed interest in some new names in the class of 2018. Let’s learn more about these new Providence targets.

You Can Never Have Enough Big Men

Despite landing a 6’9 center in the class of 2016 in Kalif Young and reeling in two big men in the class of 2017, Ed Cooley and his staff have continued to look towards the frontcourt down the line. On Wednesday it was reported that Providence offered 6’11 Kofi Cockburn, a native of Jamaica who is in the class of 2019 at Christ the King HS in NYC. Cockburn came to the United States in August of 2015. He spent last season on the freshman team at Christ the King and ran with the NY Rens 16U squad on the Nike EYBL circuit. He also attended the prestigious Nike Elite 100 camp in June. As evidenced by the below video, Cockburn enjoys dunking.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRZJW7fb8Q8]

As his game expands, the sky is the limit for the already 250 pound near 7-footer. He joins Mohammed Abdulsalam and Armando Bacot as 2019 big men in possession of an offer from Providence. You can read more about Abdulsalam and Bacot in my post where I debuted the Class of 2019 page at the end of September.

New Interest in 2018 Talent

In addition to offering a 2019 big man, the Friars have also recently expressed interest in some new 2018 recruits from the Northeast. The most highly ranked of the bunch is 6’5 shooting guard Jeenathan Williams. Williams attends University Prep Charter School in Rochester, NY and is ranked 69th by 247Sports’ Composite National Ranking. He runs with the Albany City Rocks on the Nike EYBL grassroots circuit. Williams currently has offers from Buffalo, Marquette, Niagara, Rhode Island, Rutgers, Saint Louis and St. Bonaventure.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNyElgDU6Mk]

Next up is 6’7 wing forward Frankie Policelli who hails from New Hartford, NY, a small town about 50 miles east of Syracuse. Policelli only recently became a known commodity to college coaches when the southpaw ran with the NY Jayhawks on the adidas Gauntlet series. His first offer didn’t come until May 11th from Iona, but since then he has amassed seven additional offers. He currently holds offers from Hofstra, Iona, Manhattan, Rhode Island, St. Bonaventure, Stony Brook, Towson and VCU.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocI1_4QpFuY]

The final 2018 player from New York that has gotten recent interest from the Providence staff is 6’6 wing Nahziah Carter who is currently a senior at Bishop Kearney High School in his hometown of Rochester, NY. Carter is another Albany City Rocks player who put up solid numbers on the 17U Nike EYBL team last spring and summer to the tune of 10.8 points/game and 3.8 rebounds/game in 18 games between the EYBL regular season and Peach Jam — that league’s version of the playoffs. Carter has already decided that he will take a post-grad year next year and enter the class of 2018 with a future location TBD. He currently holds offers from Buffalo, Canisius, Iona, UNC Greensboro and Vermont.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nlw-KBYinu8]

Last but not least is Newton, MA native Ethan Wright. Wright is a 6’2 combo guard who is known as a sharpshooter. He runs with the New England Playaz on the adidas Gauntlet series and attends Newton North High School. Wright averaged 23.4 points/game during a 22-4 sophomore season at Newton North and he was named the Bay State Conference MVP. He kept that momentum rolling into the spring and summer and garnered offers from Brown and Colgate. Wright also boasts interest from Harvard, Indiana, Seton Hall, Syracuse, Virginia and now Providence.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlJtcVSvxpI]

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Mike Hopkins

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