Recruiting Rumor Mill: Latest on Harper, Fland, Queen, more

With commitment season in full swing and 2024 prospects flying off the board at a breakneck pace, Rivals national recurring analyst Rob Cassidy takes fans for a spin around the recruiting rumor mill.

This week, he dishes on UCF’s recruiting outlook, Dylan Harper’s process and the buzz about commitment timetables for five-stars Boogie Fland and Derik Queen’s recruitment.

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Officially the Derik Queen sweepstakes remain open to Houston, Maryland and Indiana. Sources around Queen either do not know or decline to say which direction the five-star big man is leaning. What his camp will say publicly, however, is that the decision will be made sometime before Nov. 15, when this year’s Early Signing Period window is set to close.

I was told on Monday that Queen will sign with the school of his choice during the early period. The decision obviously isn’t likely to come before he takes his final visit, an Oct. 22 visit to Maryland. This provides a roughly three-week window for a decision announcement.

Maryland has been seen as the leader for some time now, but nothing seems set in stone as the Montverde Academy senior chugs toward decision day. Indiana could be the biggest threat to snatch Queen’s pledge away from the home-state Terrapins, but Houston shouldn’t be discarded as a threat after last weekend’s official visit.

Whether you chalk it up to tireless work, the NIL Era, a move to the Big 12, the ripple effect caused by Taylor Hendricks landing in last year’s NBA Draft Lottery or some combination of all of those things, UCF seems to be on the verge of a recruiting roll.

Head coach Johnny Dawkins and his staff have recently landed a commitment from four-star big man Moustapha Thiam, a top-50 prospect in the 2025 class. The news of Thiam’s commitment came suddenly, and now it seems the Knights may be building serious momentum. Buzz has started to build around other big-time prospects and the program is in for more big news in the coming days.

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It’s entirely possible that Boogie Fland has his mind made up, but don't expect an announcement for another week at the very least. Word is that Fland would like to do an announcement at his school, alongside his teammate, family and coaches.

Such an announcement isn’t possible until the five-star point guard’s high school coach returns from vacation, which won’t happen for a week or so. Until then, fans of Indiana, Kentucky and Alabama will need to wait with bated breath. No specific date has been set for a decision, though, I’d expect to see one announced sooner rather than later.

It was reported earlier this week that Dylan Harper plans to take additional visits before announcing a decision, and I’ve since confirmed such rumors. I’m also told that his list of fall visits is likely to include yet another trip to Rutgers, which is still believed to lead his recruitment.

Duke was in to see the five-star prospect just days ago, and it seems as though the Blue Devils will be among the schools that get Harper on campus should he begin to travel yet again. As referenced by the above report, Auburn and Kansas are also still hanging around Harper’s recruitment.

Unless something changes quickly, Harper is unlikely to sign during the early period and could instead conduct a soft reset of his recruitment. It still feels like this battle is Rutgers’ to lose, but things continue to trend in the direction of unpredictability.