tommy johnson commits

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SoCalHoops Recruiting News

Tommy Johnson Commits
To Washington State--(Oct. 27, 1999)

Tommy Johnson (6'-4" Sr. SG/SF) from Crenshaw has announced that he's given a verbal commitment to Washington State coach Paul Graham. Tommy is an athletic shooting guard, who reminds us a lot of Kent Dennis, (formerly of Cleveland and Bell-Jeff, who is now at West Virginia)--although Tommy's a little taller; he's athletic, has good quickness and moves well on the floor, and is a great shot out to three point range. Tommy reportedly enjoyed a visit to Washington State enough to commit this past Monday.

Tommy will join Jerry McNair (6-2 Fr. SG) who is currently enrolled at Fullerton Junior College. We got a note about Jerry last weekend from one of our sources (ok, it was Bob Gottlieb. . . we'll give credit where it's due) and he indicated that McNair has decided to also quit the Fullerton team for this season (which hasn't made Fullerton head coach Dieter Horton too happy). But by not playing this season at Fullerton, McNair will actually preserve another year of eligibility at Washington State, giving him three more years to play as a Cougar.

So far, Paul Graham is off to a pretty good recruiting year, even if some of the bigger guys he's been after continue to elude him. Right now, Washington State is focusing heavily on Andrew Zahn (6'-9" Sr. PF) from Redondo Union, who had a great time earlier this month when he visited the campus. Zahn and Smith have played together on several Nike-sponsored teams, and the thinking seems to be that perhaps with the verbal and signing of Tommy this may help persuade Zahn to commit as well. However other sources seem to indicate that Zahn is also being recruited heavily by other Pac-10's, including USC (who may offer him in the event they are unable to sign Jared Jeffries or another big man), and Zahn may still continue to hold out for UCLA, particularly since all of Lavin's prospective big men prospects (Phillip Ricci, Josh Moore, Ominyi Makun, etc. . . ) seem to be dropping like flies.

As we are fond of saying, only time will tell. But in the meantime, WSU is off to a solid start with Johnson and McNair.