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UNM men's basketball: Lobos recruit coming to town, coach says

By Jeremy Fowler
Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Steve Alford's first recruiting class at the University of New Mexico could take shape in the coming days.

Four-star recruit Darrington Hobson arrives in Albuquerque on Wednesday for a two-day official visit, said Alan Huss, Hobson's coach at Decatur (Ill.) Christian High School.

A former Iowa signee could follow Hobson to Albuquerque. Point guard Dairese Gary from Elkhart, Ind., one of Alford's 2007 signees at Iowa, will likely follow his coach to New Mexico, said Gary's brother, Martes.

Gary plans to make an official visit to UNM in the coming weeks, Martes said.

Hobson verbally committed to Pepperdine in large part because of assistant coach Ryan Miller, who left Pepperdine to join Alford's staff two weeks ago.

UNLV and Pepperdine are still in the mix with the 6-foot-7 Hobson, whom Scout.com ranks as the 25th-best small forward in the country. He visited UNLV almost two weeks ago partly because his father, Reggie, lives in Las Vegas.

Almost every major school in the country has called about Hobson since he re-opened his recruiting, Huss said.

As far as talent, Hobson is one of the nation's top-20 players, Huss said. More consistency would propel him to the elite.

"Ryan's been awfully close to Darrington and was one of the only guys to stick by him during the rough stretch," Huss said. "Darrington has been to a couple of different schools and had some grade issues, and Ryan was there for that. Plus Iowa was in his top-five during the first recruiting process, so Darrington knows everybody on New Mexico's staff."

Hobson, who qualifies with a 2.8 grade-point average and a 19 on his ACT, is likely the fourth player to make an official visit to UNM since the spring signing period began last week.

A source from Romano's Macaroni Grill said Alford took three recruits to lunch there Saturday.

One was probably 6-8 Johnnie Harris, a power forward from Chipola Community College in Marianna, Fla. Alford has four scholarships to fill.

Gary, who is a free agent after Iowa granted his release from his letter of intent, was in school this morning and could not be reached. Mike Fox, Gary's AAU coach with Indiana Elite, also could not be reached.

"He loves coach Alford," Martes said. "He's leaning toward New Mexico. If I had to make a prediction, that's where he's going."

Alford signed three players for Iowa's 2007 recruiting class, but Indiana guard Jake Kelly and Missouri forward Jarryd Cole will remain with new coach Todd Lickliter.