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Andy Enfield and the USC basketball coaching staff is back at it. They continue to bolster the future of USC hoops with quality recruits.
Center Jabari Craig of Fishburne Military Academy in Waynesboro, Virginia announced his verbal commitment to become a Trojan, Thursday morning.
It's official!!! I had a big dream which came to reality, it was me going to USC! To move on and continue my journey. #FightOn @Vi_Massiah
— Jabari Craig (@jabari_c) October 10, 2013
Craig is listed as a 6-foot-10, 215-pound three-star recruit by both Rivals and ESPN while being listed as 6-foot-11 and 235 pounds by Scout.
He was also considering a couple of elite Midwest programs in Louisville and Ohio State:
Breaking Recruiting News: Jabari Craig has committed to USC also considered Louisville, Ohio St, Arizona St, Marquette, Texas, Old Dominion
— Reggie Rankin (@ReggieRankin) October 10, 2013
Other schools recruiting him included Purdue, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Auburn and Clemson.
Craig brings elite athleticism that should fit nicely in Enfield's uptempo, alley-oop obsessed offense. He is from Toronto in Ontario, Canada, but played last season for Tucker High School, one of the stronger Georgia basketball schools. As a junior for Tucker last season, he averaged 8.5 points, 6.9 rebounds and 3.1 blocks.
Check out some of his highlights below:
He also previously was invited represent his country playing for Team Canada training camps. He was most recently invited to Canada's Junior National Team training camp where he played alongside all-world prospect Andrew Wiggins, who will be a freshman at Kansas this year. However, Craig was not selected to the 12-player roster for the 2013 FIBA U19 World Championship.
Craig becomes the third class of 2014 recruit to commit to play for Enfield at USC. He joins four-star point guard Jordan McLaughlin (Etiwanda HS; Rancho Cucamonga, CA) and 6-foot-9 power forward Malik Price-Martin (Northeast HS; Miami, FL).
UPDATE: A little additional information about Craig from the video interview below. While he is from Canada, his family is originally from Jamaica, which you can hear in his voice.
This year will actually only be Craig's fourth season playing basketball. He formerly played soccer, ran track and swam, but likely didn't pick up basketball until he hit a growth spurt at 12 or 13 years old. It still wasn't a major emphasis on the game until Vidal Massiah, director of the Canadian AAU program Northern Kings, told him he had the talent to take it to the next level and pushed him there.
Here's the Draft Express interview taken this summer in Long Beach: