Nov. 10, 2011
ATLANTA – On the eve of Georgia Tech’s season opener in Brian Gregory’s first year as head coach, Robert Carter, a 6-8 forward from Shiloh High School in Snellville, Ga., signed a letter-of-intent Thursday to attend Tech and become the Yellow Jackets’ third basketball signee in the early signing period.
Before Gregory has coached his first game for the Yellow Jackets, Tech has compiled one of the nation’s top recruiting classes for 2012.
A big forward (250 pounds) rated 21st among the nation’s seniors according to ESPN, Carter is also ranked seventh among the nation’s power forwards by ESPN. He is rated a four-star recruit by Rivals, who ranked him 28th overall and 11th among power forwards.
“I’m very excited about having Robert Carter join the Georgia Tech family,” said head coach Brian Gregory. “Robert is as versatile and complete a big man as I have seen in a long time. He has a great shooting touch from the perimeter and the skill to be able to stretch defenses. His warrior approach on the inside makes him difficult to guard in the post and keep off of the backboards. One area that separates Robert is his unselfish play and his ability to pass the ball.”
The Thomasville, Ga., native will play his senior season at Shiloh High School after earning second-team all-state honors last year at AA Thomasville High School, where he averaged 20.3 points, 14 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game. He helped the Bulldogs to three straight region 1-AA titles.
Tech signed two other players on the first day of the early signing period Wednesday – Chris Bolden, a 6-3 guard from North Gwinnett High School in Suwanee, Ga., ranked 107th in the Rivals Top 150, and 6-6 forward Marcus Hunt of North Clayton High School in College Park, Ga., ranked 59th in the ESPN100.
“Like Chris Bolden and Marcus Hunt, Robert is also the type of person that you can build the future of a program around. This is a great day to be a Yellow Jacket,” said Gregory, whose team opens its 2011-12 season against Florida A&M at 8 p.m. Friday at the Arena at Gwinnett.
Dave Telep, ESPN Senior College Basketball Recruiting Analyst
“When you take over a program, one of your goals is to secure a good class, plus land an anchor recruit. [Brian] Gregory established his street cred with Hunt and Bolden, and then backed it up by landing one of the state’s premier talents. I think Georgia Tech’s history of power forwards was a key factor here, and the staff’s vision for Carter’s versatile game pushed this one Tech’s way.”
