A Look Back – 2006/2007 Recruiting

Previous Installments – 2005 class, 2004 class (includes Grading Criteria)

I decided to combine these two classes, since they will be graduating together at the end of this season.

After bringing in 11 players over the last two classes, there weren’t many ‘ships available for these classes. The 2006 class only had 2 scholarships – Travis Parker’s and Cilk McSweeney’s (former walk-on who was awarded one that was not filled during the year). The 2007 class originally had 2 scholarships (Ben Luber’s and Mooch Jackson’s), but ended up with 4 after the transfers of Milos Bogetic and Max Dubois.

2006 Class

• DJ Jackson (Farrell, PA) – DJ has had an inconsistent career so far. He redshirted his first year because of a stress fracture in his left femur.He had an OK freshmen year, a pretty terrible stretch his sophomore year, but he bounced back last year and proved himself to be the 2nd leading scorer on the team. He had a decorated career in high school and had a decent amount hype surrounding him. Despite some other critics’, I do believe he has Big Ten starting talent. He has an all-around game and shoots at a solid %, but he just needs to be more assertive on offense…which we could see this year. Overall, DJ has been one of DeChellis’ better recruits.
  Career – 103 GP (71 GS) 6.4 PPG, 45% FG%, 3.7 RPG
  Signing Period – Fall 2005
  Grade (thus far) – B-
• Andrew Jones (Philadelphia, PA) - Jones has been PSU’s best big man under DeChellis, but that’s not saying much. He came to PSU raw, only having played organized basketball for 3 years. But other than a few stretches (like the NIT run), he has had a pretty frustrating career with mindless fouls and stone hands. He’s improved in those areas, but he has never shown the ability to call for the ball in the paint and then get a bucket. If he can have a Jason Love-like senior year (11.8 PPG, 8.7 RPG), it would have a tremendous impact on PSU’s season this year.  (Love was a former HS teammate of Jones’, someone some PSU fans wished we landed instead)
  Career – 100 GP (83 GS) 5.5 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 55.1% FG%
  Signing Period – Fall 2005
  Grade (thus far) – C

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A Look Back – 2005 Recruiting

Previous Installments:  2004 Class

With a multitude of scholarships available because the transfer train was still rolling at the time, the staff brought in a 6 man recruiting class in 2005.

2005 Class

• Jamelle Cornley (Columbus, OH) - Undersized (only knock), but an absolute warrior. Tremendous leader, who fought through so many injuries and setbacks.  Not really much more you can say. Too bad he was only 6’4″, but then again he probably wouldn’t have been a Lion if he was taller.
  Career – 122 GP (110 GS) 33.2 MPG 12.9 PPG 6.2 RPG
  Grade – A-
  Signing Period – Fall 2004
• David ‘Mooch’ Jackson (Gaithersburg, MD) - Junior College transfer, who chose PSU over Auburn. Mooch had a decent stint here, but nothing special. He was brought in as a combo guard at a time where PSU was desperate for a playmaker at PG. He started 51 games here but wasn’t an impact player, proving that he was a Big Ten bench player at best.
  Career – 60 GP (51 GS) 27.0 MPG 6.7 PPG 2.6 APG 3.1 RPG
  Grade – C
  Signing Period – Spring 2005
• Maxwell Dubois (Fort Lauderdale, FL) - Max was recruited as an explosive SG. He suffered a few injuries and never contributed much of anything in his 2 years here. He eventually transferred at the end of the 2006-2007 season, claiming ‘the coaches don’t have plans for me’. Hard to say that this wasn’t a wasted scholarship.
  Career – 8 GP (0 GS) 3.5 MPG 1.9 PPG
  Grade – F
  Signing Period – Spring 2005

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