Things are beginning to pick up steam on the commitment trail now that the college football season is underway. The meat of the official visit season has begun and dominoes are beginning to fall. There were a bevy of quality commits over the past seven days but it was UNC and Rice that stole the show with the need and fit with both of their respective commitments.

POWER CONFERENCE COMMITMENT OF THE WEEK

TONY BRADLEY COMMITS TO NORTH CAROLINA

While the commitment of 2017 guard Jalek Felton has been hot and cold and now that it seems that everything is a go with the 6-foot-4 junior enrolling at UNC in two years, putting the South Carolina native aside, the last time that Roy Williams received a top-50 commit dated all the way back to May 22, 2013. On that date, Theo Pinson gave a verbal to the Tar Heels and it wasn’t until this past Wednesday that the streak of 833 days without a top-50 commit was taken back to zero.

Tony Bradley is more than just a streak breaker. He is UNC’s retaliation punch at Duke after receiving their own top-50 commit with Frank Jackson and also a guy that should be leaned upon in the coming years within the interior. Bradley isn’t a one and done guy but he is someone that should be able to help from his first few days on campus because of his high level rebounding skills along with efficient scoring prowess around the basket. He isn’t the most athletic of guys around but he is a worker, brings tons of intangibles on and off the floor, and is a throwback big that should replace the likes of Joel James and Kennedy Meeks without that much of a hiccup.

NON-POWER CONFERENCE COMMITMENT OF THE WEEK

AKO ADAMS COMMITS TO RICE

Rice isn’t the easiest job to win at within Conference-USA. Except, don’t tell that to Mike Rhoades and his staff as the second year crew has brought in more than enough talent to win with and has remained active within the head coach’s old stomping grounds back in Virginia.

Rhoades came to Rice after serving as an assistant on staff at VCU for five years in aiding Shaka Smart lay down Havoc in Richmond and now in Houston, the head boss has remained true to his ethos of fast-pace play and devotion to speeding up the game on both ends of the floor. With the talent rich area that is the state of Virginia, the Owls brought in one of the more elite on-ball defenders from the east coast in last year’s recruiting class with freshman guard Marcus Evans and on Saturday evening, they added another Virginia native that should pair nicely with the Boo Williams product. Ako Adams, a tough and quality scorer of the ball from Bishop O’Connell High School, keeps the Rice program alive in the state of Virginia but should also pair up nicely alongside Evans. Adams is a true scorer at heart and where Evans is more of a defender, Adams can be the guy that is relied upon in getting the ball through the goal and in doing so, making a solid 1-2 Virginia punch over the next few years for the up and coming program down in Texas.

2016 CLASS

AAC

• Armoni Brooks – 6-foot-4 wing – McNeil High School (Texas) – University of Houston
• Juwan Durham – 6-foot-9 forward – Tampa Preparatory School (Florida) – University of Connecticut
• Dashawn McDowell – 6-foot-4 guard – Southeast High School (Oklahoma) – Southern Methodist University

ACC

• Tony Bradley – 6-foot-9 center – Bartow High School (Florida) – University of North Carolina
• Frank Jackson – 6-foot-3 guard – Lone Peak High School (Utah) – Duke University

ATLANTIC SUN

• Ron Alston – 6-foot-6 forward – The Miller School (Virginia) – New Jersey Institute of Technology

ATLANTIC 10

• Michael Lewis II – 6-foot-1 guard – Chaminade College Prep (Missouri) – Duquesne University

BIG SKY

• Sayeed Pridgett – 6-foot-4 guard – El Cerrito High School (California) – University of Montana

BIG 12

• Solomon Young – 6-foot-7 power forward – Sacramento High School (California) – Iowa State University

BIG WEST

• Thomas Rutherford – 6-foot-7 center – Grossmont High School (California) – University of California, Irvine

CUSA

• Ako Adams – 6-foot-2 guard – Bishop O’Connell High School (Virginia) – Rice University

MAAC

• Stevie Jordan – 5-foot-11 point guard – Conwell-Egan Catholic High School (Pennsylvania) – Rider University

MAC

• Ellis Jefferson – 6-foot guard – Brandeis High School (Texas) – Central Michigan University
• Jarrin Randall – 5-foot-11 point guard – Morgan Park High School (Illinois) – Western Michigan University
• Nick Wagner – 6-foot-2 guard – Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau High School (Wisconsin) – Northern Illinois University

MWC

• LeSean Brown – 6-foot-1 guard – TMI-The Episcopal School of Texas – United States Air Force Academy

SOUTHERN

• Justin Hopkins – 6-foot-4 wing – JO Johnson High School (Alabama) – Samford University
• Onno Steger – 6-foot-4 wing – Upper Arlington High School (Ohio) – Western Carolina University

SOUTHLAND

• Jalon Gates -5-foot-9 guard – Clemens High School (Texas) – Houston Baptist University
• Elijah Schmidt – 6-foot-6 forward – Klein High School (Texas) – Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi

SUMMIT

• Elyjah Goss – 6-foot-7 forward – Plainfield East High School (Illinois) – Indiana University–Purdue University
• Cameron Hunter – 6-foot-2 guard – Olathe East High School (Kansas) – North Dakota State University

2017 CLASS

IVY

• Mark Jackson – 7-foot-2 center- East High School (Utah) – University of Pennsylvania

MWC

• Trevon Abdullah – 6-foot-5 forward – Desert Pines High School (Nevada) – University of Nevada