Scout.com reported that Todd Lickliter secured a commitment from 6-foot-9 Indianapolis native Devon Archie on Tuesday. Archie joins Brennan Cougill and Eric May as the third member of the 2009 recruiting class. Archie will have two years of eligibility at Iowa.
Archie, a juco power forward, comes to Iowa by way of Vincennes Community College in Indiana. He averaged 6.0 points and 6.8 rebounds per game this past season. According to rivals.com, he drew interest from low-majors IPFW and Fordham.
Archie's commitment diminishes the likelihood that Chipola jucos Torye Pelham or Malcolm Armstead will be joining Iowa. The Hawkeyes will reach the 13 scholarship limit for next season when Archie officially signs. Pelham has offers from a pair of Big 12 schools in Oklahoma and Texas Tech, while Armstead is rumored to have strong interest in Arkansas.
Someone would have to leave the program to open up a spot for another player to enter. Some message board posters have speculated that Anthony Tucker or Andrew Brommer may want to pack their bags. However, the more likely scenario is that they both stay and Devon Archie finalizes the 2009-10 roster.
Archie gives Iowa a badly needed big man, but who really knows how good he'll be? Iowa appeared to be the only major college pursuing him. Iowa doesn't need another Josh Crawford, the 7-footer who Alford gave a scholarship a few years back even though he clearly wasn't qualified to play in the Big Ten. The question is: did the Iowa staff actually want Archie or was he someone they had to settle for?
Either way, Archie will get a chance to play immediately. He'll battle the likes of David Palmer, Andrew Brommer and Brennan Cougill for playing time in Iowa's frontcourt.
Interestingly, there's a YouTube video of Jake Kelly dunking over Archie back in high school. Unfortunately, the quality is poor.
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Iowa will add another player in the spring signing period.
ReplyDeleteStorminspank, thanks for commenting. I'm curious to see how this plays out. I really thought Archie's commitment would be the last for the 2009 class. It would be great for the Hawks to land another ballhandler now. The perfect scenario would be for David Palmer to leave and Malcolm Armstead to come to Iowa. I'd hate to ask someone like Palmer to leave though. He already transferred once. We'll see I guess.
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