Gonzaga Recruiting Update: Josh Perkins

Dec. 19, 2012; Spokane, WA, USA; A Gonzaga Bulldogs logo is shown before a game against the Campbell Fighting Camels at the McCarthey Athletic Center. Mandatory Credit: James Snook-USA TODAY Sports

Five star point guard Josh Perkins has had a busy summer. He announced he would play at Huntington Prep next season, he suffered a back injury, and now he has cut his list to five schools. This is according to Adam Zagoria, who interviewed Perkins father, Randy on the matter.

"“The five are UCLA, Minnesota, Gonzaga, UConn and Kentucky,” Randy Perkins said by phone from Las Vegas where his son is playing in the Fab 48 event this week."

The five schools should come to no surprise to anyone, since these are the five schools that have reportedly been recruiting Perkins the hardest. The intriguing one out of the five is Kentucky, considering they have yet to offer Perkins a scholarship. Yet, they find themselves on Perkins short list.  Perkins father stated in the article that no exceptions will be made for Kentucky; if they don’t offer him, he will not go there. He is set to announce his decision on August 25th, so if Kentucky wants Perkins then they will need to offer him before hand.

Although Kentucky is a scary name to see on that list, Kentucky has been after Emmanuel Mudiay, another point guard in the 2014 class, extremely hard. If Mudiay were to commit to Kentucky, which many people think he will, they would essentially be out of the running for Perkins. UCLA is the main contender at the moment. On 247 sports, 16 out of the 17 crystal ball predictions have Perkins going to UCLA next season. UCLA should be the school that Gonzaga fans are most worried about at this point of Perkins recruitment. The other two schools, UConn and Minnesota, are interesting candidates to land Perkins. Minnesota has just transitioned into the Pitino regime, and have been on the recruiting trail very, very hard. UConn has already landed five star shooting guard Daniel Hamilton, and can use his commitment to lure Perkins in to make a stellar freshman backcourt.

Gonzaga was mentioned many times in Adam Zagoria’s article, which can be read here. Perkins father mentions that Gonzaga has been there from the start, and that Mark Few has been to every one of Perkins’ games.

"“Gonzaga has been there from day one,” the elder Perkins said. “There’s something to be said for being there from day one. When Josh is interviewed the first thing out of his mouth is he wants a coach to be there both on and off the court for him. For that, Gonzaga rates really high.”"

Some very nice words from Perkins father, regarding Gonzaga and head coach Mark Few. On July 20th, Perkins tweeted the following off his twitter account @JoshPerkins03:

Based on the content of Zagoria’s article, it seems Gonzaga certainly loves Josh Perkins as a basketball player, so in turn, wouldn’t Perkins love Gonzaga as a school? Something to think about.

This is what we know now about Perkins recruitment so far and we will just have to wait until August 25th to see what happens.