Michigan State Basketball has received three signed commitments from recruits in the first two days of the NCAA Basketball early signing period for its 2015 class. Topping the list is Muskegon High School big man Deyonta Davis, who made his commitment official today. Davis is a 6'-10" forward who averaged 15.0 points, 13.6 rebounds, and 7.1 blocks per game last season as a junior, en route to leading the Big Reds to a perfect 28-0 record, and Class A MHSAA Championship. Davis earned Associated Press Class A All-State status last season, and was named to the Detroit Free Press and Detroit News Dream Team. He is rated the #5 power forward in the nation by Scout.com and the ESPN 100, and the #5 center according to 24/7 Sports. Here's what MSU Coach Tom Izzo had to say about Davis' signing...

“In Deyonta Davis we have a 6’-10” shot blocker who won a state championship and plays for a great coach in Muskegon. I think he has blossomed into something special with the best yet to come. He does remind me of an Adreian Payne. He runs the court and is very long, but he doesn’t shoot the ball bad either - in fact his shooting is improving each and every day as they work out. But his forte would be to run the court and block shots, and he is very good at that. As he puts on extra strength, I think his plans are to try to win a second state championship, and if he does that, he’ll join a guy like Denzel Valentine, and that’s worked out pretty well for him. Winning is winning, it doesn’t matter which level you win at.”

 

The Spartans also received signed letters of intent from 6'-5" guard Kyle Ahrens from Versailles, OH. Ahrens is coming off of a serious leg injury that kept him out of last season after the first six games. In those six games played, he averaged 22 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists per game. As a sophomore, he led his team in scoring, rebounds, assists, and steals, on the way to the Division 3 State Championship Game in Ohio. Here are Izzo's comments on Ahrens...

“Kyle was a guy that we first recruited as a sophomore and then he had the unfortunate mishap a couple games into his junior year of hurting his leg, and that took care of the rest of the year. So, he was a little bit under the radar for some people, but not for some in the Big Ten and not for Tom Izzo. We love the fact that he has great toughness and he plays as hard as anybody I’ve seen, and yet he has very good shooting ability - he shot over 40% from the three-point line, so that combination of things will let him play two, and even three positions."

The third commitment comes from Duncanville, Texas 6'-5" guard Matt McQuaid. McQuaid, as a junior, averaged 14.7 points and 5.7 rebounds per game. He is considered one of, if not the best pure shooters in the country. This is what Izzo had to say about McQuaid...

“In Matt McQuaid, we have another 6’5” shooting guard who is skinny but a tremendous athlete, with unlimited range. When I first saw Matt in an AAU tournament, I couldn’t believe where he could shoot it from and how effortlessly he could shoot it. The connection for us, even though he is from Duncanville, Texas, is that his dad is from Midland and actually played a couple years at Central Michigan. Once Matt came up, I think he fell in love with the place and there’s no question that myself and my staff fell in love with him. I think he brings tremendous work ethic, he’s a student of the game and he’s a guy that’s going to be able to shoot it from anywhere in the 517 area code. Because Matt’s skinny, he doesn’t get the credit for how athletic he is, and it was his high school coach that straightened me out on just how good an athlete he is and how good he’s going to be, as he gains some strength and some weight.”

The 2015 recruiting class for MSU Basketball appears, on the surface, to be a very strong class that addresses key concerns and vacancies for the Spartans in the coming seasons. Nobody is more pleased about the commitments than Izzo:

“It’s a very exciting day here at Michigan State. We signed three kids that are going to really help us in the near future. The class brings versatility; it brings two very good three-point shooters, it brings some size at 6’5”, 6’5” kind of guards, and then a 6-10 guy in Deyonta Davis who we think is going to be one of the best shot blockers and can score points. And maybe as important as anything is that all three guys have won, some of them have played for a championship, one of them won a championship and one plays for one of the best leagues in Texas. So we think we have versatility, we think we have shooters, we think we have some size, and we think we have three guys who are dying to be here, which is maybe as important as anything.

“Matt (McQuaid) is a guy that could play three positions. I think (Kyle) Ahrens is a guy that could play three positions. And DD (Deyonta Davis) is a guy that can play a couple positions, with his size and athleticism, as we put on some strength and weight. We think this could be a phenomenal class, and yet maybe have one more to sign.”

 

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