Get to Know an Incoming Recruit: DePaul's Elijah Cain

New Jersey has turned into a breeding ground for college recruits on both the gridiron and hardwood in the past few years. From the likes of Kyrie Irving to Jabrill Peppers to Theo Riddick to Karl-Anthony Towns, The Garden State has been pumping out high-caliber athletes to churn into a proverbial pipeline to schools across America.

Get to Know the Big East's Incoming Recruits

The Big East has a lot of newcomers coming into the fold this year. You can get to know 'em right here.

In 2015 that proved to be no different.

At the top of the charts stood Roselle Catholic point guard Isaiah Briscoe who hopped over to juggernaut Kentucky after being chased by many schools including the St. John's Red Storm. Speaking of the Johnnies, they too will have an incoming recruit from New Jersey in the form of shooting guard Malik Ellison of Burlington, New Jersey.

The state also sent another recruit to a Big East school in the form of Burlington's Traci Carter, who will be suiting up for the Marquette Golden Eagles later this fall.

Also, Amarveer Singh of Jersey City decided to stay in state and play for Kevin Willard and the Seton Hall Pirates.

Finally, there is one more highly touted 2015 commit from New Jersey that we will introduce to you. His name is Elijah Cain, and you'll be seeing him play for the DePaul Blue Demons this coming season.

***

Here's the skinny on Elijah Cain.

Previously, the N.J. Playaz guard had been a commit for the Delaware Blue Hens, but had decided to decommit from the Colonial Athletic Association member in November 2014. Five months later, Cain decided to sign with the Blue Demons on April 20, 2015. On that day, he became the fourth member of DePaul's 2015 recruiting class, at the time joining Raymond Doby, Oumar Barry and Develle Phillips (Doby would later decommit and eventually land at South Carolina).

Via 247Sports Composite Rankings, Elijah Cain is a three-star point guard. He ranks 14th in the state of New Jersey, 13th via 247Sports' rankings, 296th nationally, and 57th at the point guard position. While a resident, Cain attended the famed St. Benedict's Prep in Newark, New Jersey.

St. Benedict's has been one of the top schools in the country with regards to sending athletes into the NBA. Lance Thomas, Tyler Ennis, Samardo Samuels, J.R. Smith are a few notable alumni of the school as well as former Villanova Wildcats guard Corey Stokes. There's no telling right now if Cain is going to follow in their footsteps, but the pedigree is absolutely there at this point in time.

Per DePaul's official website, Cain was successful while at St. Benedict's. In his senior season, the 6-foot-2, 202-pound point guard amassed 16 points per game while also averaging 4.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists. That season, Cain and his fellow St. Benedict's Gray Bees went 31-6 while netting the D1 Championship at the NCSAA Championships as well as the New Jersey State Prep Title.

Cain did quite well for himself on the AAU circuit as well while under the direction of head coach Jimmy Salmon. He totaled 5.4 points and 3.0 rebounds per game during Nike EBYL play and helped lead the Playaz to a Peach Jam championship.

***

As far as what Cain may bring to the table this season, here's the low down Blue Demons fans. This scouting report on Cain comes to us from Future150:

Strengths:
A very long and lengthy point guard who plays a cerebral game at all times. He never plays the game out of control, and uses advanced dribbling skills to get into the lane whenever he pleases. He also has proven that he is a very capable mid-range jump shooter.

Weaknesses:
One of his biggest weakenesses right now is his lack of strength. He is easily outmuscled on the defensive side of the ball, so he will need to add strengh before he gets to the college level. He also needs to improve on his foot speed.

***

All told, Cain will be backing up accomplished Blue Demon point guard Billy Garrett Jr. this coming season and perhaps next year too if the Chicago native sticks around for his senior season. After the 2016-17 season concludes, we will likely be getting a much better idea of what we're seeing from Cain and whether or not head coach Dave Leitao can help develop him into a stout floor general. For now, we should be able to see him net rotation-type minutes off the bench. From there, we will see how the New Jersey point guard adapts to the college game, and whether he can become another notch in the already overly large belt that The Garden State is rocking.