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Auburn Tigers Receive Verbal Commitment from Mustapha Heron

By Chris Godfrey

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Something special is brewing in the SEC, and it doesn’t have anything to do with John Calipari’s Kentucky Wildcats. Bruce Pearl is recruiting with total disregard for human life, and his latest commitment has the rest of the conference starting to take notice.

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After an inaugural recruiting class that saw Pearl reel in two top 100 prospects (forwards Horace Spencer and Danjel Purifoy) and the nation’s number one junior college player (shooting guard T.J. Dunans), Bruce has already found the Pearl of his 2016 class. Mustapha Heron, a five-star shooting guard from Connecticut, is heading down south to play for the Auburn Tigers.

Think of it as #BrucePearlOuttaNowhere

Like a stealthily executed RKO from Randy Orton, Bruce Pearl just swiped one of the nation’s best guard prospects while no one was paying attention. Those who were familiar with Heron’s recruitment had no idea he was even close to making a decision.

The commitment comes as a surprise to many, as it was widely speculated that Heron would be staying close to home and playing at St. John’s.

Heron originally committed to Pittsburgh, primarily due to the influence of then assistant Barry “Slice” Rohrssen. Heron is very familiar with Rohrssen due to a friendship between the coach and Heron’s father (the two were professional teammates overseas at one time). This connections was expected to funnel Heron to St. John’s and kick off a monster recruiting class for the Red Storm.

Heron plays his summer basketball in New York City with another St. John’s target, Rawle Alkins, the best player to come out of New York City since Lance Stephenson.

There were high hopes that Heron could influence Alkins to attend St. John’s and give them one of the nation’s most dynamic young backcourts. However, with Heron committed elsewhere the Johnnies can likely say goodbye to the dream of signing Alkins as well.

Instead, it’s Auburn who now has the luxury of using Heron as a bargaining chip to enhance their 2016 recruiting haul. Adding Heron to the fold makes the Tigers a much more appealing destination for Udoka Azubuike, the massive big man from Florida who is considered to be the top pure center in the country. Pearl will now be closing in on Azuibuike as he looks to completely turnover the roster at Auburn within the span of two seasons.

While Kentucky is seeming to come back down to earth on the recruiting trail and teams like Florida and Arkansas go through transitional phases, the spot right behind Kentucky in the SEC is open for the taking, and Bruce Pearl is gathering the pieces that are necessary to make a run at immediate contention.

Next: Could This Be Gregg Marshall's Final Year At Wichita State?

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