Rutgers Eddie Jordan.JPG
Rutgers basketball receives commitment from 2015 F Leroy Butts
(Patti Sapone/The Star-Ledger)
Earlier today, Rutgers received a verbal commitment from Leroy Butts, a class of 2015 forward from Maryland. By gametime, he was already sitting courtside at the RAC, having taking the train to watch Rutgers' season opener against Florida A&M.
The commitment was first reported by Gannett New Jersey.
Butts is a 6-foot-7 forward from Upper Marlboro in Maryland and plays for the DC Assault AAU team - which has become a pipeline of sorts for Rutgers. Butler is a three-star recruit and the 114th best in the nation in 2015, according to Rivals.
He first met Eddie Jordan when the Rutgers coach was working for Assault in between NBA stops. While Butts did not play for Assault at the time, he took note of and was impressed by Jordan's NBA pedigree.
Butts was most heavily in contact with assistant coach David Cox during the recruiting process. Cox is also a former DC Assault coach.
Butts said Jordan first reached out to him as Rutgers coach a few days after he took the job. He told Butts he wanted to develop him.
And with a firsthand relationship and AAU ties to many in the program, the recruiting process was different with Rutgers than with others schools for Butts.
"It's like family," he said on his 18th birthday.
Butts said he chose Rutgers over overtures from Miami, DePaul and Cincinnati.
Asked what he can bring to the program, Butts responded: "A winning attitude, a scorer's mentality, great leadership."