calstatefullerton signings

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SoCalHoops Recruiting News

Cal State Fullerton Signs Rodney
Anderson & Patrick Ceresa--(April 26, 1999)

The LA Times on Friday reported that Cal State Fullerton Coach Bob Hawking announced yesterday the signings of two players: Rodney Anderson (6'-1" Sr. G) from L.A. Washington High, who evidently actually signed his LOI about a week ago (apparently his signing was reported more than a week ago on the Sports Only Fullerton Message Board by a fan). Strangely though, there is no official announcment about the signing on the CSUF official website, nor is there any mention of the signing on the Daily Titan's website. Apparently the announcement of Anderson's signing was made at a meeting of a group called the "Executive Playmakers" or "EP" for short, which is a sort of long-standing Titan booster group which has seen better days (there were reportedly only about 5 boosters at the luncheon when coach Hawking made the announcment).

Rodney is a nice guard, a sort of scoring point with a good handle and a nice shot all the way out to three. We saw him play several times at the Best in the West last December, and he was among the standout players for the Generals, and best of all, he may not be done growing. When we first saw him as a junior he was just 5'-9", and in about a year he's now up to about 6'-1." Rodney is a very good pickup for the Titans and should provide some added depth to the guard rotation, and he's got a lot of upside potential.

But the strangest part of the announcement carried in the LA Times about Fullerton's signings were the last two tiny sentences:

Hawking said he expects to sign one more player this spring. The Titans signed 6-8 forward Patrick Ceresa of Vacallo,
Switzerland, in the early signing period.

Nothing unusual about the first sentence. Fullerton had been hot on the trail of Greg Jefferson (6'-5" Sr. SG/SF) formerly of Fairfax, possibly to fill out the two-three position which is likely to open up this next season, but Greg instead instead signed with the Temple Owls, so it's not at all odd that the Titans would still be looking for a player to sign for that spot. The oddest part of the Times' story, however was the last sentence.

In case you've forgotten, Patrick Ceresa is the same 6'-8" guy that the UCLA Bruins were rumored to have been interested in signing at the same time they signed Jerome Moiso, Matt Barnes, Dan Gadzuric, and the rest of the great freshman class last summer. Apparently it was rumored that Ceresa didn't have the necessary transcripts, grades, couldn't get a visa, decided to go back to Europe, etc., but the bottom line was that the Bruins didn't sign him, and he drifted off into oblivion. Well, evidently oblivion is a spot that's owned by the Titans, and if they signed Ceresa in the fall, they've kept it a well-guarded secret. We don't recall seeing a single announcement of such a signing, and the Titan's website and official press releases also don't mention the signing either. And the archives at the Orange County Register also have yielded zippo. So we called over and spoke today with the coaching staff and they confirmed that yes, indeed, Fullerton had signed Ceresa in the fall, and they also confirmed the signing of Anderson. We didn't get any explanation though as to why they kept Ceresa under wraps, but it's a great pickup for the Titans.

Fullerton is looking for to fill two other spots, and there are several candidates, but the coaching staff is just now making a decision about which kids to go hard after. We'd expect to hear about a couple more signings within the next couple of weeks.