Jermaine Harris commits to Rhode Island over Xavier

Jermaine Harris has committed to the Rhode Island Rams. The four-star power forward in the class of 2018 announced his decision on Friday afternoon. Harris weeded his decision down between Rhody and the Xavier Musketeers of the Big East Conference. In turn, Dan Hurley has landed a big win over Chris Mack in this recruiting cycle.

Harris had taken a visit to the Xavier campus back on September 29. He also visited URI a week before on September 22. There appeared to be traction leaning toward X in the wake of that visit. In the end, the Crystal Ball actually did lie in this case, as Rhody was the choice for the Upper Marlboro native instead of Xavier.

At the moment, Harris is an attendee of Capitol Christian Academy. He also plays for the D.C. Premier team on the Under Armour Association circuit.

Jermaine Harris is one of the best players in the country and in the state of Maryland. The 6-foot-8, 200-pound power forward ranks fifth among all prospects in his home state. That field is no joke either, as Immanuel Quickley (Kentucky Wildcats), Jalen Smith (Maryland Terrapins), Noah Locke (Florida Gators) and Montez Mathis (Rutgers Scarlet Knights) make up 1-4. Harris also ranks 80th overall in this recruiting cycle, and 22nd among all power forwards.

With Xavier landing four-star Keonte Kennedy earlier in the week, this softens the blow a little bit. But this is still a miss for the Musketeers. Landing a player of Jermaine’s caliber would’ve certainly been a coup for Chris Mack, who put together the 11th-best class in the nation for the 2017 cycle.

There are plenty of open offers and spots left for 2018, so Xavier will now have to turn their attention elsewhere to bolster their frontcourt. They currently have open offers to Talen Horton-Tucker, Darius Days and E.J. Williams. Xavier appeared in both Horton-Tucker and Days’ most recent cutdowns, so there’s still plenty of optimism surrounding those two.