Jerome & Radz Put It In Writing, Sign NLIs

Signing day brought a great deal of action across the nation, and a number of Capital District natives got in on the action. Two of them who made it official were players who suited up at different points in the Empire State Takeover boys summer league in Ray Jerome and Zach Radz.

Ray Jerome, a senior at Cheshire Academy in Connecticut, made his verbal commitment to Division I Penn of the Ivy League a month ago. A native of the Albany area that previously played his basketball at Albany Academy before transferring prior to the fall of 2014, Jerome was a highly sought after prospect among schools in the Ivy League, Patriot League, and NEC, along with receiving considerable interest from MAAC and A-10 programs. Penn was among a plethora of programs - nearly a dozen - that had extended him offers before he made his decision. Ray was a participant in this year's summer league, putting on the green for Marcella Appliances on opening night. An extremely busy summer schedule with Under Armour sponsored NY Jayhawks and the U20 Puerto Rican national team, which he was a member of this summer, kept him on the road (or out of the country) consistently through the rest of summer.

Zach Radz also made it official on signing day, putting his signature down to attend Division I Sacred Heart of the NEC. He made his announcement right around the beginning of September, which was the first commit in a huge week for players who donned the City Rocks jersey in high school. Radz received his offer from Sacred Heart upon transferring to perennial prep power St. Thomas More in Connecticut for a post-grad year. Sacred Heart was the former Troy standout's first Division I offer, although a handful of other programs had shown interest in the pure shooting combo guard after a very strong senior campaign and continued improvement in the summer. Radz suited up for Man Up before the live period hit in early July and averaged 23.3 points per game in 2 weeks.

Both of them also participated the year before in the King of Kings College Prospect League in Utica, the previous incarnation of EST. Each was an honorable mention selection in 2014.

Congrats to both Zach and Ray on making it official, and best of luck to each in their final prep seasons!