Jones backs off IU pledge, sets visits to other schools
Another Fort Wayne basketball player is reopening his recruiting process after having made a previous college commitment.
Former North Side standout Eshaunte Jones, who recently played on the Indiana All-Star team, has decided to visit additional schools after making an oral commitment to Indiana University in November.
His AAU coach, Eric Vaughn, confirmed Thursday Jones still has IU on his list of schools but could take visits to UCLA, Missouri, Cincinnati, Illinois, Tennessee and Miami (Fla.).
“He felt like he wanted to open it up and play at a place where they would look at him as a point guard as well as a two-guard (shooting guard),” said Vaughn, the coach of Blessed IJN.
“IU is still in the mix, and they are at the top of his list.”
Vaughn said IU recruited Jones strictly as a shooter but could see him as a combination guard as well.
According to the Bloomington Herald-Times, Jones told the Hoosiers on Wednesday he was looking at other places.
“It wasn’t the Indiana coaches or anything,” Jones told the Herald-Times. “I still like them a lot. I just thought I needed to look at other schools. I felt like I hadn’t really taken the time to make the decision.”
Jones recently completed his senior season at North Side as the No. 2 all-time leading boys basketball scorer in Allen County with 1,759 points. He trails only ex-Elmhurst star James Hardy’s 1,813. He averaged 27 points as a senior, third in the state.
Jones will be attending Hargrave Academy in Virginia for prep school in the fall and is a 2008 recruit.
Vaughn said Jones will take his visits after the summer when he starts prep school.
Bishop Luers sophomore DeShaun Thomas made a commitment to Ohio State on May 30, only to decide to open the recruiting process to other schools almost two weeks later.
gjones@jg.net
Stephanie Bussey’s first cross country meet wasn’t quite as successful as her first beauty pageant, which got her the title of 2009 Miss Wells County.