The verbal commitment of Holmes on Saturday thrilled the UD fan base, which had seen Dayton pursue a number of top-50 recruits in the last three years without landing one.
Holmes, a 6-foot-8 forward, is a consensus top-50 recruit who ranks as high as No. 36 (Rivals.com) in the 2021 class.
“He’s a multi-dimensional player,” said Ty Amundsen, who coached Holmes the last three years at Millennium High School in Phoenix, Ariz. “He can score at all three levels. He’s an elite defender with his length and athleticism. He has a real good feel for the game. He can play all five positions, which he did for me. What makes him different than everyone else is just his work ethic. He’s a tireless worker. He’s always in the weight room. He’s always in the gym. He’s on a pathway to greatness. He really wants to achieve his ultimate goal, which is to play in the NBA.”
Holmes is the 14th player to commit to Dayton during the Grant era. Here’s a by-the-numbers breakdown of those players.
8: Dayton has added players from eight different states during Grant’s tenure.
• New York (4): Obi Toppin (Ossining/Brooklyn); Frankie Policelli (New Hartford); Koby Brea (Bronx); and Smith (Bronx).
• Ohio (3): Dwayne Cohill (Cleveland); Ibi Watson (Pickerington) and Lukas Frazier (Painesville).
• Florida (2): Zimi Nwokeji (Tallahassee) and Weaver (Cocoa)
• Tennessee (1): Jalen Crutcher (Memphis).
• Georgia (1): Rodney Chatman (Lithonia).
• West Virginia (1): Chase Johnson (Ripley).
• Maryland (1): R.J. Blakney (Baltimore).
• Arizona (1): Holmes is attending Montverde Academy near Orlando, Fla., as a senior, but his family lives in Phoenix, where he was from the seventh grade until this year. Prior to living in Phoenix, the family lived in Nashville.
5: Dayton has added five transfers from Division I programs: Watson (Michigan); Chatman (Chattanooga); Tshimanga (Nebraska); Johnson (Florida); and Weaver (Southern California).
3: Dayton has added three players from other countries: Matos (Dominican Republic); Tshimanga (Canada); and Moulaye Sissoko (Mali).
2: Dayton has added three top-100 recruits, two whom were transfers, in the last four years. Half of the 16 players were three-star recruits, according to 247Sports.com composite rankings. Take these rankings for what they’re worth. They’re fun to follow, but by no means do they define any of the players. The fact that Toppin, the consensus national player of the year in 2020, wasn’t ranked by any recruiting website is good proof of that.
Nevertheless, here’s how the players ranked:
• Four stars (3): Holmes (No. 39, 2021 class); Weaver (No. 45, 2018); Johnson (No. 85, 2017); Cohill (No. 136, 2018).
• Three stars (8): Tshimanga (No. 161, 2016); Smith (No. 197, 2021); Watson (No. 239, 2016); Nwokeji (No. 216, 2019); Policelli (No. 298, 2018); Crutcher (No. 328, 2017); Sissoko (No. 361, 2019); Blakney (No. 408, 2020).
• Two stars (1): Frazier (No. 480, 2020 class).
• Unranked (4): Toppin (2017); Matos (2016); Chatman (2016); and Brea (2020).
2: Two players recruited and signed by Grant and his staff have transferred from the program: Policelli (Stony Brook) and Matos (Charlotte).
That number doesn’t include players recruited during the Archie Miller era who left the program: Xeyrius Williams (Akron); John Crosby (Delaware State); Jordan Davis (Middle Tennessee); Jordan Pierce (Odessa/Middle Tennessee State); and Kostas Antetokounmpo and Matej Svoboda, who both left to pursue professional opportunities.
1: Matos is the only player to commit to Dayton from a junior college since 2017.
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