dimanche 3 août 2014

Missouri lands impact recruit who will be eligible right away

Selecting Rob Fulford as one of his assistant coaches is already paying off for newly hired Missouri coach Kim Anderson.


Barely a month into his tenure, Fulford has already helped the Tigers land a top prospect.


Montaque Gill-Caesar, a 6-foot-6 small forward who played for Fulford at Huntington Prep in West Virginia, announced Saturday he has signed a financial aid agreement to play for Missouri. Gill-Caesar had planned to enter college in 2015, but since he has already graduated high school, he instead will reclassify to the Class of 2014 and enroll at Missouri immediately.


“I already had great relationships with coach Rob (Fulford) and (associate head) coach (Tim) Fuller, but having a chance to meet coach Anderson and get to know him on a personal level just put everything over the top," Gill-Caesar said in a statement released by the school. "I want to thank my family and everyone at Huntington Prep for their support and I’m ready to be a Missouri Tiger.”


The immediate addition of Gill-Caesar is a huge coup for a Missouri program in dire need of perimeter offense after losing Jabari Brown and Jordan Clarkson to the NBA draft. Gill-Caesar, Rivals.com's No. 31 overall player in the class of 2015, is a gifted scorer capable of finishing in transition or knocking down open shots from the perimeter.


If Gill-Caesar's performance during the FIBA Americas U-18 tournament in Colorado Springs this summer is any indication, he should be able to make an instant impact at Missouri. The Ontario native who goes by the nickname "Teki" helped Canada win the silver medal by averaging 19.6 points per game, the second highest total in the tournament. He also had 56 points in a high school game this past season.


“Teki has all the tools to be a big time talent over the course of his college career and fits extremely well with the young perimeter players we have in the program because they are so versatile," Anderson said in a statement released by the school. "He can shoot the ball on the perimeter, he can attack the rim off the bounce, he can use his size and leaping ability to rebound over bigger players and he has great presence on the defensive end of the floor. He will have an opportunity to come in an contribute right away and gives us another important influx of talent as he joins Keith (Shamburger) in arriving next month."


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Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!







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