Recruiting race heats up for key St. John’s basketball prospect

The St. John's basketball logo on the team shorts. (Photo by Porter Binks/Getty Images)
The St. John's basketball logo on the team shorts. (Photo by Porter Binks/Getty Images)

The recruiting race for one of the top St. John’s basketball targets is heating up as more college coaches are offering the Class of 2021 guard.

As college coaches have much more time on their hands during the coronavirus pandemic, recruiting races are becoming more clustered and more competitive.

One of the top St. John’s recruits is seeing that happen before his very own eyes as college coaches have come calling for Jordan Riley over the last month.

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Riley, a native of Brentwood, New York, stars at Brentwood High School has most recently picked up an offer from Kansas State, days before the Class of 2021 guard landed an offer from Pittsburgh and Big East rival Georgetown.

The 6-foot-3 dynamic athlete also holds offers from Rutgers, Seton Hall, and Virginia Tech in addition to St. John’s.

Rutgers, Seton Hall, and St. John’s have been on the three-star recruit the longest as the other schools have offered him after the new calendar year.

Riley took visits to Rutgers on October 24, Seton Hall on January 11, and Virginia Tech on January 20.

Programs such as Creighton, Clemson, Miami, Wake Forest and Kansas have also been closely monitoring the situation with Riley and his recruitment.

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Mike Anderson went on a recruiting spree in the month of April, offering many guards from the Class of 2021 and 2022 but in terms of the near future the Red Storm could have guards such as Greg Williams Jr., John McGriff, Vince Cole, and Posh Alexander on the roster when Riley would be a freshman.

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Verbal Commits currently lists the Johnnies with 27 open scholarship offers in the Class of 2021 as the NCAA only allows team to carry 13 scholarships on its roster per season.

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As time moves forward it’ll be up to Mike Anderson and his staff to key in on the top prospects that they want to see in Queens and employ the head coach’s ‘full court press’ in order land their top players, and it certainly seems that Jordan Riley is a top priority for the Red Storm.