Jacob Toppin to Rhode Island

By ADAM ZAGORIA

In the span of a year, Jacob Toppin went from not owning a single Division 1 offer to having his choice of Rhode Island, St. John’s, Oklahoma State, Virginia Tech and Dayton.

“My uncle was the main part to me getting offers,” Toppin said Friday. “He contacted schools for me and then schools started coming to watch me workout. I started getting real offers after I left prep school .”

On Friday, Toppin, a 6-foot-8, 185-pound forward from Ossining, N.Y., signed with Rhode Island, ending his recruitment. Head coach David Cox and assistants Ty Boswell and Kevin Sutton recruited Toppin.

“I picked Rhode Island because I felt that was the best fit for me, where I could do my best with my skills and develop as a player,” he said by phone.

“I think I can bring a game where I can make the bigs stretch the floor,” he added. “I feel I can stretch the offense more with my length and height. I can dribble and shoot the ball to bring out the bigs who guard me. As a player, I feel like point guards won’t be able to guard me because I’m too big, and bigs won’t be able to guard me because I’m too versatile.”

Jacob Toppin Commits to URI David Cox & Ty Boswell getting it done. pic.twitter.com/1JUfJ2QuA1

— Rhody Madness (@RhodyMadness) May 17, 2019

Toppin’s older brother Obi starred at Dayton last season as a redshirt freshman, averaging 14.4 points and 5.6 rebounds while earning Atlantic 10 First-Team All-Conference honors as well as the league’s Rookie of the Year. He was the first freshman in 20 years to be named to the league’s first team. Obi Toppin declared for the NBA draft after the season.

“Jacob is a big time shooter with great size and length to go with a tremendous skillset,” Cox said. “This is a young man with a high IQ who comes in with a strong basketball pedigree. Jacob has a high ceiling with the potential to have a tremendous impact on our program.”

Jacob Toppin will be with Rhode Island when the team returns for the start of summer session. He joins forwards Marial Mading and Mekhi Long, as well as guard Gregory Hammond as part of the 2019-20 class. The Rams also have added transfers Antwan Walker – a redshirt sophomore forward from Georgetown – and Jeremy Sheppard – a junior guard from the College of Central Florida for this season.

Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter

And Like ZAGS on Facebook