Shaka Smart and VCU were the first school to call when the news broke that Melvin Johnson was released from his National Letter of Intent with Miami.
VCU kept on calling, staying in touch with Johnson and his mother, Kizzy Gladden, developing the kind of bond Johnson said he hoped to establish with a coaching staff after he left Miami. When it was time to set visits, Smart and Co. received the first one — and as it turned out, the last.
Johnson picked the Rams early Friday evening after returning home from his official visit, closing a whirlwind couple of weeks.
“It’s just a relief,” The Bronx native and former Rice star said, “to be able to start college and begin my journey.”
He was ticketed to go to Miami, after picking the Hurricanes over Virginia Tech, Georgetown, South Florida, Dayton and the College of Charleston in early October. On July 11, however, he received his release from the school for “mutual reasons,” Gladden previously said. “It was because of circumstances beyond our control.”
She declined to further elaborate, though she said her son has been cleared by the NCAA’s Clearinghouse and should be admitted into VCU barring anything unforeseen.
“It was kind of stressful, going through the whole process, seeing the best fit, having to trust people again,” Gladden said. “VCU’s staff made it kind of easy.”
VCU, which just joined the Atlantic 10 after years in the CAA, recruited Johnson tepidly before he chose Miami, unsure they could get him, he said. He liked everything about the school on his visit, from the coaching staff and the team’s frenetic style of play to its recent winning tradition and his future teammates. Johnson will be joining one of the country’s fastest-growing programs, which made a Cinderella run to the Final Four in 2011, has reached the NCAA Tournament four of the last six years and won at least a game three of those seasons.
“It played a huge part,” Johnson said, referring to VCU’s track record of success. “They make the tournament virtually every year, they go deep and they get a lot of recognition.”
The Rams are getting one of the top shooters in the Class of 2013, a 6-foot-3 marksman ranked as the No. 14 shooting guard in his class by Scout.com. The four-star recruit led St. Benedict’s to a 35-3 season and it finished 15th in the USA Today national rankings.
In picking a school in the fall, Johnson said he factored in conference and name, leaning toward high majors. That didn’t come into play at all this time.
“It was the best fit,” he said. “It’s a great situation. …. It feels good — it feels extremely good.”