PROVO - While the BYU men’s basketball program waits for Eric Mika and the upcoming May 24th withdrawal date out of the NBA Draft Combine, Dave Rose and his staff continue to work to assemble the roster for the 2017-18 season.
BYU received a pledge from a junior college transfer point guard in Jahshire Hardnett out of Chipola College in Florida.
Hardnett is 5’11”, 187-pounds and he has three years to play three seasons. He announced on his personal Twitter feed his commitment to BYU.
Assistant coach Tim Lacomb was the first coach in contact with Hardnett who was the freshman of the year in the Panhandle Conference of the junior college ranks.
This is an interesting addition that takes Dave Rose back to his roots on the junior college trail. Prior to arriving at BYU in 1997 as an assistant coach, Rose was the head coach at Dixie State Junior College.
Hardnett is the Cougars first junior college addition since Skyler Halford three years ago.
Out of Arlington Country Day High School, Hardnett signed with Fordham but left the Rams for JUCO ball after there was issues with the NCAA clearinghouse.
While at Chipola, Hardnett received interest from UNC-Wilmington and North Florida along with BYU.
According to Rivals basketball analyst Eric Bossi who watched Hardnett in high school, he had this to say about the newest Cougar back in 2014:
“He is a pretty athletic kid, six-foot tall or so. Primarily a basket attacker off the dribble and does good job using his low center of gravity. Also a pretty good on the ball defender. Jump shot is a bit of a question.”
Assuming every player that is returning from an LDS mission keeps their scholarship from Rose, BYU is now left with one scholarship that will either be filled by Mika or another 2017 prospect.
The signing period ends Wednesday, May 17th, one week before Mika’s deadline to withdraw.
Mitch Harper is the Publisher of Cougar Nation and is the host of the Cougar Center Podcast available on iTunes & Google Play. Follow him on Twitter/Snapchat/Instagram: @Mitch_Harper.
