Irish Sports Daily

How good is Jerami Grant?

The 6-foot-7, 190-pounder from DeMatha Catholic in Hyattsville, Md., is a four-star prospect who is ranked by ESPN as the top player in Maryland for the Class of 2012. Nationally, ESPN ranks him as the eighth-best power forward and the 43rd-best player overall among current high school seniors.

His high school coach, Mike Jones, likes Grant’s versatility and winning instincts. Scouts are not only impressed with Grant’s bloodlines, his father and uncle had lengthy NBA careers while a pair of older brothers signed scholarships with Division-I programs. They also like his ability to face up defenders, his scoring prowess and his presence as a rebounder.

But Grant’s AAU coach for Team Takeover, Keith Stevens, probably sums it up best.

“He’ll be a pro,” Stevens said of Grant.

“He’s a damn good player,” Stevens continued. “He knows how to score the basketball, he’s a very good rebounder, he’s really good in transition, getting to the rim and getting to the free throw line and things of that nature.”

Grant has cut his list to three schools – Notre Dame, Syracuse and Rutgers. There were reports of a final decision coming this week, but nothing has been finalized yet.

“He’s supposed to, but he’s kind of confused right now, so nobody really knows what he’s going to do,” said Stevens “He’s just trying to figure out what the best situation is for him as opposed to what everybody else thinks. He’s just trying to figure it out.”

Grant entertained coaches from all three programs, including Irish head coach Mike Brey, last weekend and all presented strong cases.

“I think that’s what got him confused because all of the visits went really well,” Stevens said.

Stevens is expected to sit down with Grant and his family soon to get an idea of where Grant is in the process and when he'd like to announce a decision.

The Irish do present one thing their Big East conference foes can’t. Grant’s older brother, Jerian, is entering his second year at Notre Dame after sitting out his freshman season to preserve a year of eligibility.

Notre Dame wasn’t known to be a serious player in the race until last week when Jones released Grant’s final three schools on Twitter. Grant hadn’t mentioned the Irish much to reporters recently, but they continued to recruit him hard and through conversations with Jerian, the idea of reuniting with his brother became a real possibility.

“I think the biggest thing is his brother being there then the opportunity to play,” Stevens said of Notre Dame.

Stevens said Rutgers also presents the opportunity to play early while Grant likes Syracuse’s style of play and the program’s successful history.

Grant, whose other brother Jerai just completed his career at Clemson, trimmed his list from a group of scholarship offers that included Clemson, Georgetown, Marquette, North Carolina State, Oklahoma, Texas, Virginia and Virginia Tech.