Seton Hall locks up four-star Canadian Tyrese Samuel
RANKINGS: 2019 Rivals150 | 2020 Rivals150 | 2019 Team Rankings
Seton Hall landed its second commitment in the past 24 hours on Tuesday in the form of Orangeville Prep forward Tyrese Samuel. A four-star prospect from Canada, Samuel gives the Pirates a tremendously talented and versatile forward who should make an impact on the program as a freshman.
“I am committing to Seton Hall University,” he told Rivals.com. “The coaching staff and the vibe that I got whenever I went on my visit there, I just felt like it was place that I needed to be. How I can contribute and what they needed, it just felt right.”
Kevin Willard’s pitch didn’t hurt, either.
“They just want me to play like Desi Rodriguez, that type of role, whenever I get there,” he said. “That is kind of like my style. I can come in and show off my versatility where I can post up, but also do a handful of other things and hopefully have the chance to, one day, impress the NBA scouts.”
Samuel selected the Pirates over Georgetown, Pitt and Wake Forest. If he was playing in the United States, Samuel would have been slotted in the upper-half of the Rivals150, and he is a major pick-up for Willard’s bunch. He comes to the Big East program having already put together a very solid career on the prep and international circuits.
This past summer at the FIBA Under-18 Americas Championship, Samuel posted per-game averages of 7.8 points and eight rebounds. His highlight performance came against the gold-medal winning United States bunch whose front line consisted of five-stars Armando Bacot, Trayce Jackson-Davis and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl. Despite the loss, Samuel finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds, showing his intriguing upside and ability to touch various portions of the stat sheet.
He becomes Seton Hall’s second pick-up from the 2019 class. Monday, three-star guard Dashawn Davis gave his verbal pledge to the Pirates, and Samuel and the local talent should only further stabilize the rock-solid program that Seton Hall has become.