Ohio State head coach Thad Matta thought he had his 2015 recruiting class fully figured out. He thought it was going to consist of four guys — A.J. Harris, Austin Grandstaff, Mickey Mitchell and Daniel Giddens.
Then, D’Angelo Russell’s assault on the college basketball world happened and Matta knew it was likely going to be Russell’s only season in Columbus. That turned out to be exactly the case and Matta had to do his best to find a replacement and do it fast.
Enter JaQuan Lyle.
Lyle, a 6-foot-5 220-pound four-star combo guard, is the 38th overall rated player in the 2015 class according to 247Sports. He was originally an Oregon commit in the class of 2014, but a mix up with the NCAA left him a few credits shy of qualifying academically. As a result, he spent the last season at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla.
Lyle visited Ohio State back in January for the game against Maryland and committed to the Buckeyes the very next day. Everything seems to be squared away academically and he recently signed his Letter of Intent to play at Ohio State.
It's official! JaQuan Lyle flashes a big smile with Coach Mahoney after signing his NLI to play at @OhioStAthletics! pic.twitter.com/3N1x0uM65u
— IMG Academy (@IMGAcademy) April 27, 2015
Lyle and Russell are very similar-type players. Both are bigger guards who can play either the point or shooting guard positions. It’d be crazy to expect Lyle to step in and produce like Russell did during his only season in Columbus. But whether it’s fair or not, the two will be compared because of their similarities as players.
“He’s similar to me. He’s a big guard that has incredible vision. He can score the ball,” Russell said of Lyle at his press conference where he announced his decision to enter the NBA Draft. “We’re similar in so many formats.”
They’re similar players who were good friends throughout the entire process. Matta said Russell was critical in getting Lyle to come to Ohio State.
“Getting JaQuan, he and D’Angelo were very close through the process and D’Angelo helped us get him which I think once again speaks volumes to how committed he is to our program,” Matta said.
Matta knew he was going to have a hole on his roster once Russell started tearing through the season. He figured the best way to go about filling that spot would be to add a player who was similar to the former Ohio State star.
Buckeye fans are hopeful the late addition pays big dividends.
“Once (Russell) got rolling, I said he’s probably going to be out of here. We felt at that point that we had better get busy because if things progressed then he was probably going to have the opportunity to leave," Matta said. "So (adding Lyle) was something we definitely looked at and said, ‘Hey, this is gonna be a great opportunity losing Shannon (Scott), losing D’Angelo’ and we were fortunate it worked out that way.”