Philly Duo Headed to UTEP

When Doc Sadler took the head coaching job at Texas-El Paso he hit the ground running in the spring trying to add quality players for the upcoming season. Now with time on his hands, the Minors head man tapped into his valuable coaching staff and tapped into existing Northeastern roots to get in the good graces with two Philadelphia products. Late Monday night, UTEP landed two players that should help the program right away in Stefan Jackson and Maurice Thomas.

Jackson, a 6-foot-4, 180-pound shooting guard, and Thomas, a 6-foot-8, 200-pound forward, are both products of o a loaded Philadelphia Lutheran team. Their head coach Daryl Schofield called Rivals.com with the news.

“They decided to get it done on Monday. They have a good relationship already with Doc and then (Director of Basketball Operations) David Anwar has been very influential in it too,” Schofield said.

Jackson is an elite scorer that has come on strong late in the fall in several events in the Philadelphia and New York areas. The slender guard has a chance to be pretty special in the Western Athletic Conference, Schofield says.

“He’s lined himself up to be a 20 points per night kind of guy there,” the coach said. “When he starts to decide on what he wants to do and puts on weight, there is no reason he can’t go off for 20. The rest is up to him.

“(UTEP) said he’ll be able to play right away and shoot the ball. It’s a win-win situation.”

Thomas is an athletic, bouncy forward that has raw skills inside but the Minors have a different vision for him.

“Maurice has three skills,” Schofield said. “They said by the time he’s a sophomore, he’ll be a full time three. He’ll play the four because he can rebound so well but he’ll do well at the three. He’s tough as nails.”