Rogers scratches N. Mexico
Stephen Rogers, a second-team All-American small forward from Mesa Community College has trimmed his list of potential schools to two — removing New Mexico from his options.
In a phone interview with the Deseret News, Rogers said he and Lobo coach Steve Alford mutually agreed to end the recruitment. That means Rogers will chose between Utah State and BYU early next week.
“I was interested in them,” Rogers said of New Mexico, “but they only had one visit left and we both kind of decided that (my interest) was not enough that they wanted to use their last visit on me.”
Rogers said he had a nice long talk with the BYU coaching staff last weekend when Dave Rose and Dave Rice made a stop at his home in Mesa, Arizona for more than two hours of discussion.
“They said I a lot of good things and answered a lot of my questions,” Rogers said. “I’m going to fly up on Friday and stay until Sunday having an official visit.”
One of the main questions asked, Rogers — a 22-year-old sophomore-to-be and returned LDS missionary — said, was why BYU didn’t start recruiting him until the last couple of weeks.
“They said they didn’t want to start recruiting me if they didn’t have a scholarship to offer,” Rogers said. “Now, they said it looks like they’ll have a scholarship to give me and so they wanted to recruit me.”
During his visit with BYU’s coaches last weekend, Rogers said the Cougars explained “how I’d fit in and where I’d play.”
Rogers also told the Deseret News he and his father, a BYU alum, have taken long looks at the rosters of both BYU and Utah State to see what the depth chart looks like now and in the future.
“Of course that’s something I look at and take into consideration,” Rogers said of his desire to develop as a player by getting significant playing time. “At both schools, it’s something I think I can come in and make a contribution right away.”
Rogers said though he was a hot prospect coming out of high school where his team won back-to-back Arizona state championships, the process this time around has been an eye-opener. He said college coaches have been calling and texting him constantly over the past couple of months. Rice, Rogers said, was on the phone with him just a few minutes before he talked with the Deseret News.
“I never anticipated it would be like this,” he said. “It’s been pretty intense.”
Rogers is one of two recruits USU would like to get signatures from next week when the spring signing period opens. JC shooting guard Antonio Bumpus (Harcum CC in Philadelphia) gave the Aggies a verbal commitment after visiting Logan this past weekend.
The 6-foot-8, 190-pounder said he is making an effort to get the decision made as soon as possible so he can concentrate on getting his associate’s degree out of the way in order to be eligible to transfer.
“My heavens,” Rogers said, “I can not wait to make a decision. It’s going to take a lot of pressure off.”