Class Of 2022 Forward Ty Rodgers Includes Marquette In His Top Nine

As we gently slide towards the official start of autumn, we’re inching closer and closer to the fall signing period for college basketball and the Class of 2022. That means we’ll be seeing more and more commitments and cutdowns as we get closer, and that was clear on Thursday when top 60 prospect Ty Rodgers released a Top Nine list and included YOUR Marquette Golden Eagles. They’re joined on that list by (deep breath) Alabama, Connecticut, Illinois, Memphis, Michigan, Michigan State, Rhode Island, and Xavier.

Now, we have to point out that Ty Rodgers has been recruited by Marquette for a while now. As in “got a scholarship offer back in May 2020,” and yes, that means that Steve Wojciechowski was recruiting him. However, as recently as early August, the Golden Eagles were mentioned as one of the programs recruiting Rodgers the hardest. Quite clearly, that means that Shaka Smart and his staff jumped into the water with both feet to keep the continuity going with him. The fact that things got to this stage with no indication that Smart was talking to Rodgers while at Texas is pretty impressive work. It also might be not enough, as Marquette might just be fighting upstream against the two Michigan schools, as those are in-state choices for Rodgers.

After all, he attends Grand Blanc Community High School in Grand Blanc, Michigan. That’s just outside Flint, for those of you playing Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego at home, or a bit northwester of Detroit. 247 Sports lists Rodgers as a 6’7”, 195 pound small forward, and he’s juuuuuuuuuust outside the top 50 in their Composite rankings for the Class of 2022. He’s sitting at #51 at the moment, and he’s been hovering right around the #50 spot ever since 247 started ranking him in September of 2019. All of this makes him the #15 small forward prospect in the country and Rodgers is the top prospect for 2022 in the state of Michigan. You can see with both the Spartans and the Wolverines would be very serious about bringing him in next year.

We can always count on MLive.com to give us quality high school coverage in the state of Michigan, and so we head to their article on Rodgers’ cutdown for an update on how his junior season went:

Rodgers led Grand Blanc to the Division 1 state championship last season, when he averaged 17.8 points, 9.4 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 2.3 steals as Grand Blanc finished with a 15-2 record.

In the state quarterfinals, the Bobcats snapped No. 1-ranked Orchard Lake St. Mary’s 27-game winning streak.

Rodgers, who has started since his freshman year, was named The Associated Press Player of the Year in Division 1.

Seems good.

Wanna watch seven minutes of highlights that were published in mid-February of this year?

And now, a scholarship chart.

It’s stupidly obvious, but Marquette would clearly benefit from getting a top 60 prospect on the 2022-23 roster. Honestly: Who wouldn’t? The Golden Eagles are in an interesting spot with three scholarships projected to be open for that year, but also no seniors on the roster. If that’s the case — Greg Elliott could elect to return for his bonus season of eligibility, after all — then that impacts how MU attacks recruiting for the Class of 2023. However, that’s Future Shaka Smart’s problem. For now, it would clearly be a good thing to 1) get Ty Rodgers on board, no matter how he fits in with the rest of the roster and 2) figure out what to do about 2023 later.