9/19/2008 football Edit

Fastbreak Friday: First official for No. 1

Justin Young

Rivals.com Basketball Recruiting Senior Writer

MORE: Weekly Wrap: Keeping up with commitments | Updated 2009 team recruiting rankings

Kansas, Michigan State, Tennessee and others are all gearing up for huge visit weekends from recruits.

In fact, the nation's top player is scheduled to take his first official visit this weekend.

Rivals.com takes a look at the extensive list of official and unofficial visits in this week's version of Fastbreak Friday.

ACC

VISITORS OF THE WEEKEND

The Kansas men's basketball team will receive its National Championship rings this weekend. A pair of prospects talented enough to help the Jayhawks make a run at another title are expected to attend the ceremony.

John Wall, the nation's top player in the Class of 2009, will make his first official visit of the fall. The 6-foot-4 point guard from Raleigh (N.C.) Word of God will be one of the several talented prospects on Kansas' campus this weekend.

Never in the history of Rivals.com has the nation's top player ever visited the defending National Champions on an official visit. Wall will be the first.

Also in Lawrence is fellow five-star prospect Thomas Robinson of Wolfeboro (N.H.) Brewster Academy. The Washington D.C. area native is one of the elite rebounders in the nation.

Oklahoma City (Okla.) Bishop McGuinness center Daniel Orton will be on hand, too. The burly post player will make a return trip to KU in October. Class of 2012 prospect Perry Ellis of Wichita Heights (Kan.) High School is also expected to be in town.

Fayette County (Ga.) wing Noel Johnson will be in Winston-Salem this weekend to see Wake Forest for an official visit.

Clemson will host a trio of 2010 prospects for unofficial visits. Rivals150 prospects Ian Miller of Charlotte (N.C.) South Mecklenburg and Travis McKie of Richmond (Va.) John Marshall are expected to be on campus. Michael Green of Columbia (S.C.) Ridge View High School is also scheduled to see "Death Valley" up close and personal.

North Carolina will have 2010 commitment Kendall Marshall on campus for a visit. More importantly, five-star sophomore James McAdoo from Norfolk (Va.) Christian School will make it down to Chapel Hill for an unofficial visit.

Chatham (Va.) Hargrave Military Academy forward Chris Braswell will visit Maryland. He is a Washington D.C. area native.

Sasha Borovnjak, a 6-foot-8 forward from Fletcher (N.C.) Veritas Christian will visit N.C. State.

BIG 12

Texas A&M has Miami in College Station for football. The non-conference game is a big draw for the hoops program. Commitments Kourtney Roberson (2009) and Jamal Branch (2011) will be in town. So will class of 2010 forward Julian Washburn of Duncanville (Texas) and 2010 point guard Phil Pressey, who moved to Dallas this summer. He now attends Episcopal School.

Texas Tech will play host to a pair of important targets this weekend. Arlington (Texas) Grace Prep point guard Nick Russell and junior college wing Torye Pelham of Marianna (Fla.) Chipola JC will be in Lubbock for visits.

Colorado will play host to Alec Burks, a 6-foot-4 shooting guard from Grandview (Mo.) High School.

BIG EAST

A big part of Pittsburgh's future will be in town for the weekend. Class of 2009 commitments Lamar Patterson and Dante Taylor will be in the Steel City for official visits. The duo will also be acting as recruiters for the Panthers.

New Yorker Durand Scott of the famed Rice High School will be on the Big East school's campus. The four-star guard is one of the most highly recruited players at his position in the class. Scott won't be the only Big Apple product in town. Lincoln High School power forward James Padgett will be in town, too. Talib Zanna, a 6-foot-9 center from Forestville (Md.) Bishop McNamara, will make a visit to Pittsburgh as well.

Georgetown will get a chance to win over Raleigh (N.C.) Ravenscroft forward Ryan Kelly, one of the most sought after power forwards in the nation.

Moreno Valley (Calif.) Rancho Verde shooting guard Michael Snaer, one of the six five-star seniors visiting a college campus this weekend, will be on Marquette's campus. He won't be alone. Fellow Californian Derrick Williams of La Mirada is also scheduled to see Marquette.

Providence scored a commitment from Kadeem Batts after he visited last weekend. This weekend, the Friars are hoping to do the same with Cadillac (Mich.) forward Ben Simons.

BIG TEN

Last weekend it was USC. This weekend it is Michigan State with a number of big time recruits on campus. The Spartans are taking full advantage of the home football game with Notre Dame to hold a reunion weekend. Former standouts like Steve Smith, Mateen Cleaves, Charlie Bell, Shannon Brown, Maurice Ager, Eric Snow, Al Anagonye and others are expected to be on campus. The prospect list for the Spartans is also very impressive.

Class of 2009 commitments Derrick Nix and Garrick Sherman will both be in town on official visits. Keith Appling, a 2010 MSU commitment, will be in on an unofficial trip.

The class of 2010 will be well represented. In-state stars Trey Zeigler, Alex Gauna and Jon Horford, all Rivals150 prospects, are scheduled to be in East Lansing. So will Indianapolis (Ind.) Lawrence North wing Justin Martin, a top-40 national prospect.

The Spartans are also bringing in a few 2011 prospects. Brandon Kearney, a point guard from Detroit (Mich.) Southeastern, and high school teammate Percy Gibson, an intriguing young big man, will make it out for the weekend.

Ladonte Henton, a 6-foot-5 wing from Lansing (Mich.) Eastern, is considered by some to be the state's top player in the 2011 class. He will be on campus. Soutfhfield (Mich.) point guard Carlton Brundage and Paul Honigford, a 6-foot-8 forward from Sugarcreek (Ohio) Garaway, will also be in town for unofficial visits.

This is a huge weekend for the Minnesota Gophers. Why? Top target Rodney Williams of New Hope (Minn.) Robbinsdale Cooper High School will finally make his much anticipated visit to the school. California point guard Justin Cobbs of Bishop Montgomery High School will also be in town to see the Gophers.

Indiana is hoping to improve upon its No. 5 recruiting class in 2009 this weekend. Center Bawa Muniru of Wilson (N.C.) Charis Prep will officially visit Bloomington. The NCAA recently announced that the school is in a "not-cleared decision" state. Translation: "Core courses, grades and graduation records from Charis Prep will not be used when determining prospective student-athletes' initial eligibility to compete in intercollegiate athletics."

Ohio State will play host to five-star in-state prospect Jordan Sibert of Cincinnati (Ohio) Princeton. He recently trimmed his list down to seven schools. The Buckeyes made the cut along with Cincinnati, Louisville, Maryland, Miami, West Virginia and Xavier.

Purdue is bringing in Aaron Cosby of Louisville (Ky.) Jeffersontown and Justin Gant of Terre Haute (Ind.) North.

PAC-10

Tempe, Ariz., will be the place to be this weekend in the Pac-10. With the Sun Devils playing Georgia in football on Saturday night, Herb Sendek and staff are taking advantage of the spotlight.

Commitments Jared Cunningham and Trent Lockett, both class of 2009 prospects, will be in town for their official visits.

Class of 2010 prospect Will Regan will make the long cross-country trip from Albany, N.Y. to see ASU for the second time. The 6-foot-8 star from the Nichols School visited last fall.

Chicago (Ill.) Whitney Young point guard Chris Colvin will be in Los Angeles this weekend to see USC.

Arizona is bringing in Los Angeles (Calif.) Winward center Anthony Stover for an official visit.

E.J. Singler will play in a football game for his South Medford (Ore.) High School football team on Friday night. Shortly after the game is over, he'll travel down to Palo Alto to see Stanford's campus.

SEC

The Tennessee-Florida football game is always one of the most anticipated matchups of the year for SEC fans. The weekend is always a huge recruiting tool for the host program. This year's game is in Knoxville, and the Vols are gearing up for a big weekend.

Class of 2009 commitment Kenny Hall of Stone Mountain (Ga.) Redan and class of 2010 commit Aaron Craft of Findlay (Ohio) Liberty Benton will have a chance to meet each other for the first time this weekend.

The duo will also have a chance to meet a number of prospective prospects. Perhaps the biggest target in town will be Josh Selby of DeMatha Catholic in Maryland. The charismatic guard is high on the Vols, and the UT faithful hope Selby has an enjoyable experience.

Not to be out shadowed, fellow 2010 five-star prospect Adreian Payne of Dayton (Ohio) Jefferson will make it down to Vols country. He is an AAU teammate of Craft's and one of the most coveted and intriguing big men in the junior class.

Georgia wing Jordan McRae of Liberty County High is also tentatively scheduled for a trip to Tennessee. Kerry Hammonds won't have to travel far to visit Knoxville. The wing hails from Murfreesboro and attends Siegel High School.

Thought to be a commitment to UAB, junior college guard Casey Mitchell of Chipola (Fla.) will also officially visit. The Savannah, Ga., native is a big-time scorer.

Marlon Brown, the best two-sport athlete in the class of 2009, will unofficially visit Tennessee, too. The Memphis (Tenn.) Harding star is being recruited by the football team and the basketball team. Each has said he can play both sports if he were to pick the Vols. Brown is the top-ranked football player in Tennessee, according to Rivals.com.

Class of 2011 prospects Tracy Abrams of Chicago (Ill.) Mount Carmel and Jeremiah Davis of Muncie (Ind.) Central are also scheduled to make the trip to Knoxville.

The Vols won't be the only SEC school making recruiting waves. Ole Miss is bringing in a number of talented youngsters for the football game against Vanderbilt.

Cleveland (Miss.) East Side big man Johnny O'Bryant, a five-star prospect in the class of 2011, leads the charge in Oxford. He will be joined by Tyler Adams, a 6-foot-9 center from Brandon (Miss.); Mychal Ammons of Vicksburg (Miss.) and Daniel Grieves, a 6-foot-5 wing from Kiln (Miss.) St. Stanislaus.

Arkansas natives Hunter Mickelson of Jonesboro Westside and wing Ky Madden of Lepanto (Ark.) East Poinsett County, both 2011 prospects, will also be in town for unofficial visits.

Auburn will play host to LSU in a much-anticipated SEC football game. Commitments Andre Malone of South Atlanta (Ga.) and Robert Chubb of Montverde Academy (Fla.) will in town for the matchup. Both will be on their official visit. Point guard Eric Bledsoe of Birmingham Hayes will also be in town.

Arkansas is bringing in a pair of talented junior college prospects. Former Georgia forward Jeremy Jacob of Chipola Junior College in Florida and Jemal Farmer, a 6-foot-5 wing from Cloud County (Kan.) Community College, are scheduled to be in Fayetteville.