Class of 2019 PF Isaiah Mobley sees interest outside Pac-12
LAKEWOOD, Calif - Four-star Isaiah Mobley was seeing heavy interest from primarily Pac-12 teams following his sophomore season. Fast forward to August and programs such as Miami, TCU, Alabama, UNLV and Yale now are starting to get involved.
Mobley was one of the best players on the court this past weekend at the Ron Massey Memorial Classic in Southern California. He finished with 23 points and 14 rebounds in a close loss to Mater Dei on Saturday night.
"I expect to turn a lot of heads this year for high school ball. Coming from a stacked team like Compton Magic I was just playing my role since we had so much talent and I was playing up a division," Mobley said.
"My role definitely expands here on my high school team and I’m just looking forward to developing my game more this year."
IN HIS OWN WORDS
Mobley is taking his recruitment in stride and is open to any team that offers. Miami and Yale are two recent offers that came in at the end of the summer. Regarding the Pac-12, he took an unofficial visit to USC two weeks ago and plans on getting out to UCLA, Cal and Stanford at some point.
Miami: "Miami has been talking to me a lot recently. I got an offer from them toward the end of the summer and it was kind of surprising but also cool to get recognition from a school so far away and in the ACC. They offered both me and Onyeka Okongwu at the same time after adidas Nations. I know they have Lonnie Walker coming in and they’re a team I’ll be watching closely this season."
USC: "I took an unofficial to USC a couple weeks ago and went to a football game so that was cool to get to experience the fan atmosphere and check out a little bit of the student life. The coaches there have told me I’m a hybrid of Bennie Boatwright and Chimezie Metu so they think I can fit in well there."
Stanford: "Stanford came to practice the other day and they’ve been on me for a while. I know with a school like Stanford, that athlete/academic life is really balanced and that’s important to me. I’m going to try to get up there for an unofficial visit at some point this year."
Cal: "Cal is another school that has been down to see me but I haven’t been up there yet. I plan on getting up there for a visit once I have some time to schedule it. They offered early on in the summer and the coaching staff has stayed in contact."
WHAT'S NEXT?
Mobley is excited for his junior season and said he's looking forward to playing alongside his younger brother, 2020 four-star power forward Evan Mobley.
"It’s really great having Evan full strength since he was out most of the season last year with an injury" Mobley said.
"There’s been some cool brother moments already. I remember one game against Bishop Gorman he dunked on someone and then the next play I did the same thing. It’s stuff like that that makes this time playing together really special."
During the high school season Mobley plans on checking out a few other schools. Cal, Stanford and UCLA are definitely on his radar but he wants to get to some of the others too, such as Miami, Yale, Alabama and TCU.
Virginia and Princeton have started to talk to the four-star forward but haven't offered yet. Mobley said he doesn't have a dream offer that would end things early and is just taking the whole recruitment process as it comes.
RIVALS REACTION
Mobley has a 4.0 GPA and I think academics will play a big role in his recruitment. Expect more schools to get involved in the next year as his game progresses and he continues to get stronger. Mobley's ball-handing has improved tremendously as he's working on a point-forward threat. All the Pac-12 schools that got in early are in good shape but look out for the adidas ties to Miami. The Hurricanes could be a sleeper in the end.