CARBONDALE, Ill. — With its last available scholarship for the 2019-20 season, Southern Illinois signed Nebraska transfer guard Karrington Davis on Thursday, the final addition to an eight-man Spring recruiting haul under new head coach Bryan Mullins.
A 6-foot-6, 215-pound wing from St. Louis, Mo., Karrington will be a redshirt freshman at SIU this Fall. He missed the 2018-19 season after sustaining a torn Achilles tendon during October workouts seven months ago.
“Karrington is another proven winner that we were able to add to this spring class that is full of players who won state championships or went to NCAA Tournaments,” Mullins said. “He is coming here extremely motivated and eager to show how he is capable of playing. He has tremendous versatility and will impact the game in many ways.”
During his senior year of high school, Davis played for the nation’s No. 1-ranked team — Montverde Academy (Fla.) and contributed to a 35-0 season. He battled a hip injury for a portion of his senior year, but was one of nine Division I signees on the Montverde roster, a group that included Duke’s RJ Barrett, the No. 1 player in the class of 2018.
“I was injured during my senior year at Montverde, and then again last season, so I haven’t really had a chance to show my full potential,” Davis said. “God has a plan for me and I know that I’ll be back better than ever. I’m really motivated and excited to prove what I can do, and show people how good I am as a person and a player.”
A 3-star recruit with offers from Kansas State and Saint Louis, Karrington played two seasons at Chaminade Prep in St. Louis where the school went a combined 51-12 and won the Class 5 state title in 2016. As a junior Davis averaged 19 points and six rebounds per game and was a First-Team All-State selection by the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association. His teammates included 2017 NBA first-round draft pick Jason Tatum and Iowa forward Tyler Cook.
“I love going against top competition, testing myself and getting better every day,” Davis said. “Finding your role on a talented team is really important, whether it’s defense or rebounding or scoring. A lot of people think scoring is the biggest role, but there are a lot of different roles on the court you can play to help a team win.
Davis is the fifth Division I transfer to join the Salukis this spring, along with Northwestern center Barrett Benson, Eastern Illinois guard Ben Harvey, Clemson forward Malik William and Missouri guard Ronnie Suggs. The new-look Salukis will also feature junior college transfer guard Harwin Francois (Daytona State) and three true freshmen — guard Lance Jones (Evanston HS), guard Trent Brown (Pinnacle HS) and forward Marcus Domask (Waupun HS).
SIU returns four players from last year’s squad that finished 17-15 — senior guards Aaron Cookand Eric McGill, junior forward Brendon Gooch and redshirt freshman forward Sekou Dembele.
Speak Your Mind
You must be logged in to post a comment.