New stadium means new recruiting tool for GA State
The first big recruiting weekend is now upon us and schools at every level are ready to wow prospects with on-campus visits. For Georgia State basketball, the weekend is a first in what the coaching staff hopes is a change to how they do things in downtown Atlanta.
Georgia State will unveil its new football stadium on Thursday night in a game against Tennessee State. The Panthers will play their gridiron games at the old Atlanta Braves stadium - Turner Field - moving forward.
For Ron Hunter and staff at the GSU basketball staff, it was a pointed effort to open this new era of weekend visits off strong. By all accounts, they are starting things off strong.
Warner Robins, GA
Nelson Phillips and KJ Buffen, two top 10 players in Georgia’s 2018 class, will be on hand for the game. So will top five junior Kyle Sturdivant of Norcross and top 20 junior Maurice Harvey of Miller Grove. That’s quite a recruiting haul. Georgia State is in there deep with both Phillips and Buffen. Phillips, in fact, could even commit during or soon after the visit.
Kevin Easley, a 6-foot-6, 210-pound small forward from Indianapolis (IN) Lawrence North, will also be in town for the game. He’s a national top 265 ranked player in the 2018 class. He was once committed to Virginia Commonwealth.
The first ever home game at Georgia State Stadium is expected to be a sellout (approximately 30,000 people). The new venue is a proper upgrade, believe it or not, from the Georgia Dome. The old venue was just too big for a start-up football program like the Panthers had. The new outdoor experience on the south end of downtown Atlanta should offer a familiar feel that Georgia sports fans have become accustomed to on Saturdays in the Fall.
For the basketball program, the new stadium offers a new recruiting angle that most teams Only UT Arlington is in a major city. The other schools are either in rural or small markets. No other school has a football venue quite like the new GSU home field. But how will it help in hoops?
That’s the million dollar question.
The Panthers have done a nice job of recruiting the in-state high school players over the years, shifting their efforts to landing more out of high school prospects opposed to landing key transfers. Getting transfers will still be a point of emphasis, no doubt, but targeting more local talent has been a shift of philosophy.
The staff said the new venue makes a visit feel more like “an event” and they hope more players, particularly the local players, will spend Saturdays in their GSU experience.
Getting a chance to wow Phillips, Buffen, Sturdivant, and others is the start to many more weekends of similar talent on campus. The goal for the Georgia State administration has been making the school feel like more than just a commuter school.
This stadium is the school’s own. It isn’t borrowed like the Georgia Dome. And making a big impression in the big city will be interesting to watch for the Sun Belt program.
Will there be a trickle-down effect moving forward? This weekend will be a good look at how things could be changing for Georgia State basketball.
