Four-star recruit Timmy Allen, a 6-foot-6 wing from Arizona, highlights the Utah men’s basketball recruiting class that includes a pair of California high school standouts as well as one junior college guard.
Utah announced a four-player signing class Thursday, the second day of the NCAA’s early signing period. Each of the four players has signed a National Letter of Intent to attend Utah.
The class includes 6-9 forward/center Riley Battin from Oak Park, Calif., 6-3 guard Naseem Gaskin from Oakland, Calif., 6-2 guard Charles Jones, who is currently in his sophomore year at the College of Southern Idaho, and Allen, who is from Mesa, Ariz.
“All four of these players are individually talented and along with their maturity level, they each bring in a team-first mentality,” Utes coach Larry Krystkowiak said in a release from the university. “I am really fired up about this group of young men. This is a special and balanced recruiting class that possesses high character both on and off the court.”
ESPN.com, Scout.com and 247Sports rank Allen as a four-star recruit going into his senior year of high school. Scout ranks him the 110th best player in next year’s high school class, while 247Sports ranks him 109th. Allen averaged 19.8 points, 7.9 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.0 blocks and 1.0 steals per game in 12 games for Red Mountain last season. He sat out the first nine games of the season because he switched schools.
Battin averaged 24.7 points per game last season, the third-best scoring season for a boys’ basketball player in Ventura County history. His 492 rebounds (12.3 rebounds per game) tied a county record. His junior season included a streak of 24 consecutive double-doubles. He earned Ventura County boys’ player of the year from the county’s basketball coaches.
Gaskin has been ranked among the top 50 recruits from California by both ESPN.com and 247Sports. He made 35.5 percent of his 3-pointers and more than 55 percent of his shots overall.
Jones averaged 15.4 points per game while shooting 47 percent from the floor (43 percent on 3-pointers) for CSI last season. He earned third-team National Junior College Athletic Association all-American honors as a freshman. Jones has averaged 20 points per game, made 15-of-33 shots (6-of-8 3-pointers), grabbed 11 rebounds and dished out six assists for CSI in two games this season.
The Utes go into Friday night’s season opener with four seniors on their roster.
The two in-state signings from last year’s early signing period — Jaxon Brenchley from Hyrum and Branden Carlson from South Jordan — both are expected to enroll in the university in 2019 after serving LDS Church missions.