By DAN GARTLAND
EXECUTIVE SPORTS EDITOR

A crowd gathered in the gym at Christ the King High School in Queens yesterday to hear Jon Severe announce which school he would be attending this fall. MSG Varsity aired the press conference live and streamed it on its website. People up and down the east coast were waiting anxiously.

He thanked his family and coaches, then paused. He looked at his feet, then back up at the crowd cameras, before finally saying, “Next year, I’ll be playing my college basketball at Fordham University.”

“We’re thrilled to have Jon Severe become a part of our basketball family,” Fordham head coach Tom Pecora said in a statement. “He will have a huge effect on the rise of our program over the next four years. His ability to score the ball and make other players around him better make him an exceptional athlete.”

Severe is by far the most decorated recruit to sign with Fordham since Pecora took over as head coach in 2010.

The 6’2” guard is known as a prolific outside shooter who can also penetrate off the dribble. ESPN ranks him as the 35th-best shooting guard in his class, and the sixth-best player in the state of New York. He is ranked 37th among shooting guards and 141st nationally by Rivals. Both ESPN and Rivals rate Severe as a three-star prospect. The Brooklyn native averaged 21.6 points per game with Christ the King this season and was named New York’s Mr. Basketball in March.

Severe had 21 scholarship offers on the table from some of the biggest names in college basketball. Earlier this month, he whittled his list down to five: Rutgers, Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Wake Forest and Fordham.

Fordham returns all five members of its starting lineup from last season (not counting forward Chris Gaston, who missed nearly half of the team’s games with an injured knee). Some combination of senior Branden Frazier, sophomore Mandell Thomas, junior Bryan Smith and Severe will start in the backcourt in Pecora’s three-guard system.

Junior Ryan Canty and sophomores Ryan Rhoomes and Travion Leonard will be joined by newcomer Manny Suarez up front. Suarez, rated a two-star prospect by ESPN and three stars by Rivals, stands 6’9” but possesses the ability to play inside and out.

Fordham has also signed Jake Fay, the brother of current Ram Jared Fay. The younger Fay is the 98th ranked shooting guard in his class by ESPN. The Rams also have their eye on Chris Whitehead, a point guard from New Albany, Indiana who spent the past two seasons at Danville Area Community College in Danville, Illinois. Whitehead visited campus last weekend.

Categories: Basketball