DePaul recruiting: Class of 2016 power forward Jeriah Horne to commit on Thursday

Kansas City, Missouri's Jeriah Horne announced Wednesday that he will be planning on making a verbal commitment on Thursday.

Horne, a student at The Barstow School, is a 6-foot-7, 210-pound power forward in the Class of 2016 that Corey Evans of Hoopseen.com noted as a "do it all forward" who'd assist whichever of the five schools he has weeded down to.

He's a three-star recruit on 247Sports, and ranks fourth amongst all Missouri prospects in the 2016 class with Jayson Tatum (Duke commit) leading the way. Horne also ranks in the Top 50 (45th) at his position, and in the Top 200 (173rd) across the board nationally.

Those schools, as Horne indicated in his tweet, are Wichita State University, Kansas State University, Pepperdine University, Nebraska University and, finally, DePaul University. Horne had Iowa State University high on his list of choices, but back on September 2, the KC native decided to cancel his visit to ISU and instead intended on visiting Chicago-based Big East Conference member. According to the initial report by Alex Halsted of AllCyclones (Scout.com's ISU site), the change was due to other schools showcasing interest in Horne.

Dave Leitao and the Blue Demons staff has already gotten started with their 2016 class. In June, Devin Gage of Curie High School committed to DePaul over the likes of UIC, Toledo and Bradley. Via VerbalCommits, the Blue Demons have three spots left and 21 current open offers, including Horne. Adding another three-star recruit could position DePaul nicely for 2016 and beyond if Leitao can get him to Lincoln Park and develop him and Gage well.

This move could pay dividends well as far as the current roster. With Myke Henry's final year of eligibility coming this season, and Rashaun Stimage graduating after this year, adding the 6-foot-7 Horne into play will allow you to have Horne at the 4 and 6-foot-11 Tommy Hamilton at the 5, as the taller Hamilton would be up against the bigger bodies while Horne stays in at power forward.

Time will tell to see if Horne elects to play for DePaul, or if he follows in the footsteps of fellow Missourian Xavier Sneed who just recently decided to commit to Kansas State, or selects Nebraska, Wichita State or Pepperdine as his choice. Either way, let the excitement, and the anticipation mount.