Since Jerry Stackhouse has taken the helm of the Vanderbilt men's program, there have been two early recruiting themes.
First, he has placed a heavy emphasis on West Coast talent. Seemingly, there are a lot of relationships between the staff and coaches and players in that part of the country. Secondly, he had gone after elite talent.
Josh Christopher checks both boxes.
Christopher lives in Bellflower, California, but plays for the Las Vegas Elite on the Nike EYBL Circuit. Christopher has two teammates that the Commodore staff has also taken a liking to: Jalen Hardy and Noah Taitz.
Secondly, Christopher is oozing with talent. We saw him play at the EYBL event in Indianapolis and he stuck out on the biggest of grassroot stages like a sore thumb. Not only is he cat quick, but he already has a college ready body that combines strength and length who could explode at the rim any time he wanted to.
The 6-foot-5, 200 pound point guard averaged 21.7 points in twelve EYBL outings. He shot 44.2 percent for the spring as well as 75.9 percent from the line. One area Christopher needs to improve on is his outside shooting. He was 10 for 51 from behind the arc for just 19.6 percent.
Christopher did average 5.8 assists per game against 3.5 turnovers. He also grabbed 4.8 rebounds and 1.6 steals each time out.
Naturally, our Rivals team of National Analysts saw him on multiple occasions over the past two months and offered a scouting report two weeks ago.
"One of the true elite scorers in America, Christopher excels in isolation situations. He can go and get his team a basket at the drop of a dime and is also the type that can save his team when the shot clock is winding down. Christopher's footwork is elite and he is difficult to stop." - Corey Evans Indy EYBL
Christopher has an impressive list of offers already which indicate he is a highly coveted prize for Pac 12 teams, and beyond, which includes a heavy amount of interest in the Southeastern Conference. UCLA, Oregon, UNLV, USC, Florida State, Arizona, Cal, Missouri, Washington, Florida, Kansas, Nevada, Georgetown, Arkansas, Alabama, and the Commodores have extended invites.
His brother, Caleb, will be a freshman on the Arizona State squad next season, and his cousin is the strength coach at Missouri. His other brother, Patrick, previously played at California.
Evans spoke with Christopher a couple of weeks back and he covered a lot of bases regarding his recruitment.
Visits: "“Visits right now, I don’t have anything planned right now but I will probably schedule some pretty soon,” he said. “I for sure want to check out the Oregon campus, Florida State would be a good visit, too. Those are the two on my mind right now.”
Timeframe - "A commitment could come earlier compared to others, or it could be pushed back to next spring. “I am going to wait until I feel like it is the right time for me, honestly,” Christopher said. “That could be tomorrow, who knows, but I always talk about it, I don’t know if I want to do it at the Nike Peach Jam, or before my school year, or be the last person to even commit to a school, I don’t know. Only time will tell.”
In the same article, Christopher mentioned Arizona, Arizona State, Florida State, Florida State, Missouri, Oregon, and UCLA as the schools who have been recruiting him diligently. New Vanderbilt assistant, David Grace, recruited him during his Pac 12 days.
Christopher has already taken an official visit to Arizona State and unofficials to Arizona, Texas, and UCLA. The question will now be does Vanderbilt have enough time to make a solid impact on the five-star guard.
