All five are in the fold.
Jeff Battle, an assistant men's basketball coach at Wake Forest, said yesterday that all five recruits who signed letters of intent will follow through and play under new coach Jeff Bzdelik. The unanimous decision accomplished Job 1 for Bzdelik, who was hired April 14 to replace Dino Gaudio.
The class of Tony Chennault, J.T. Terrell, Carson Desrosiers, Melvin Tabb and Travis McKie is ranked among the top 10 in the nation by most recruiting analysts. All were bound to Wake Forest by their letters of intent but could have put the program in an awkward position by asking for their releases.
"We met with all of them," Battle said. "All of them were saying they were good to go."
The news follows a whirlwind tour by Bzdelik and his two remaining assistant coaches, Battle and Rusty LaRue. Starting Friday, the first day coaches were allowed by NCAA rules to visit recruits, the trio met all five players over two days.
"We actually visited with two on Friday and the other three on Saturday," Battle said. "Five kids in 36 hours."
The coaches met with Chennault in Philadelphia on Saturday. Carl Arrigale, Chennault's coach at Neumann-Goretti High School, attended the meeting.
Arrigale said last week that Chennault had developed a strong bond with Battle, who was also a standout high-school guard in Philadelphia before playing four seasons at Marshall.
"He really felt a connection right away with Coach Bzdelik," Arrigale said. "They came over the weekend and we sat down.
"The fact that he kept the staff -- that Rusty and Jeff are still there, especially Jeff -- made him feel good about the meeting. But after talking with Coach on the phone and meeting him in person, he immediately felt good about it.
"It washed away any doubt. Not that he had doubt but, like any other kid would be, he was just kind of nervous about the situation."
Arrigale said that Wake Forest's Joel Coliseum holds a special place in Chennault's heart. That's where Chennault, as a freshman, made his first start for Neumann-Goretti in the Frank Spencer Classic in December 2006.
"Coach was great with him," Arrigale said of Bzdelik. "I'd never met Coach either before that day. I walked away thinking I feel pretty good about it.
"He said all the right things to get (Chennault) motivated. (Chennault) said, ‘I can't wait.' That was his thing after the meeting was over. He was like ‘I can't wait to get there.'"
dcollins@wsjournal.com
727-7323
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement