Center Maverick Morgan (’13) Commits to Illinois

First-year head coach John Groce has reeled in his first recruit at Illinois, as Class of 2013 center Maverick Morgan gave a verbal commitment on Wednesday to the school. Fittingly, the former Ohio University head coach and Ohio State assistant snagged his first recruit out of the Buckeye State, where he spent the last eight years of his coaching career.

Morgan, a 6-foot-10 big man out of Springboro, Ohio, chose Illinois over a host of other Big 10 schools. West Virginia, Xavier and Vanderbilt headlined a list of non-Big 10 schools that had also extended scholarship offers to the future Illini.

Morgan joins Malcolm Hill as the second Illinois pledge in the Class of 2013. Hill, a 4-star shooting guard out of Belleville, Illinois, verbally committed to the program in September, when former head coach Bruce Weber was still stalking the sidelines. Hill reaffirmed his commitment to the school after Illinois fired Weber.

In the wake of Meyers Leonard’s early departure to the NBA—Leonard, who would have been a senior next season, may very well be a lottery pick—Morgan’s announcement comes just in the nick of time for an Illinois program searching for answers in the front court.

Rising sophomore Nnanna Edwu, a blue chip prospect who played in all 32 games for the Illini last season, is one of only two returning players capable of playing center. Ibby Djimde, a true freshman last season as well, is still a work in progress and likely will not be ready to log major minutes for Groce next season.

That opens up immediate playing time opportunity for Morgan, who like Djimde, is a raw project himself, especially on the offensive end.

Bruce Weber churned out no shortage of great college big men during his tenure in Champaign, from Leonard to the Mikes—Tisdale and Davis—to the unsung Roger Powell Jr. all the way on down to James Augustine.

How apropos that the man who replaced Coach Weber at Illinois is picking up right where his predecessor left off.