The ugly theft incident involving four Hofstra players hasn’t hurt the Pride’s recruiting.
Hofstra is involved with several top prospects and landed its first recruit since police arrested four players for burglary when talented New Jersey guard Iverson Fleming verbally committed to head coach Mo Cassara and Co. Saturday afternoon.
A skilled 6-foot-1 guard out of North Brunswick Township High School who is averaging 26 points per game this year and tallied 14.8 a game a year ago, Fleming picked Hofstra over LIU-Brooklyn and Sacred Heart. He joins Gervelle Kidd of Hargrave Military Academy in Hofstra’s 2013 recruiting class.
“When I came to campus, the coaching staff were really nice people, they made me feel welcome and wanted,” he said. “Coach Mo accepted me from the get-go. They were nice, warm people. That’s why I chose Hofstra.”
The arrests and current suspensions of players Shaquille Stokes, Jimmy Hall, Dallas Anglin and Kentrell Washington for stealing more than an estimated $20,000 worth of Apple electronics products from six dorm rooms at the Hempstead, L.I., university according to police didn’t make Fleming think twice about Hofstra. He spoke with Cassara shortly after the ordeal.
“I know I’m a good kid,” he said. “I stay away from stuff like that.”
Hofstra’s struggles without the four players — the Pride is just 3-9 overall and has lost five straight games — didn’t scare off Fleming, either.
“Seeing how that effected them, it made me want to go there more, trying to switch it around for the school,” he said.