The San Jose State University Spartan Recruiting Season

For something new, I attempted to track San Jose State University's 2025 recruiting season, an arduous task and one that admittedly stands incomplete because not every offer appears publicly.

As you'll see, lots of offers were extended, some with the hope of landing a prospect on the rebound from his original school. Some were simply long shots.

New 2025-26 San Jose State University Players

Transfer Portal Signees

• Colby Garwood 6-foot-0 190 junior guard (Longwood University) signed 4-17-25
• Adrien Meyers 6-foot-6, 205 redshirt sophomore (Mississippi State) signed 4-28-25
• JaVaughn Hannah 6-foot-3 200 senior guard (Western Michigan) signed 5-7-25
• Yaphet Moundi 6-foot-8, 205 senior forward (Iona) signed 5-12-25
• Marcus Overstreet 6-foot-9 230 junior forward (Mercer) signed 5-18-25
• Japhet Moupadele 6-foot-8 220 freshman forward (from France) signed 6-12-25
• Jaden Goodall 6-foot-6 175 redshirt freshman forward (Cal-Berkeley) signed 8-30-25 (possibly a walk-on)
• Eren Karakaya 6-foot-10 230 freshman center (from Turkey) signed 8-30-25

Other Signees

• Melvin Bell 6-foot-4 195 freshman guard (Indiana prep school) committed 9-17-24)
• Douglas Langford 6-foot-7 240 freshman (HS, southern California) committed 3-25-25)
• Damase Coley 6-foot-2 171 freshman guard (Dublin High, CA) (likely a walk-on)

Returnees

• Christian Wise 6-foot-6 205 forward redshirt sophomore (possibly still a walk-on)
• Sadraque Nganga 6-foot-10 220 forward senior
• Pasha Goodarzi 6-foot-3 190 guard redshirt sophomore
• Ben Roseborough 6-foot-4 205 redshirt freshman
• Jermaine Washington 6-foot-1 180 sophomore

Transfer Portal Players Pursued Who Signed Elsewhere

• 6-foot-3 190 guard Christian Henry (from Eastern Michigan, signed Fordham 5-3-25)
• 6-foot-8 220 forward Blake Barkley (Northwestern, signed East Tennessee State 4-13-24)
• 6-foot-8 Dillon Battie (Temple, signed Wichita State 4-17-25)
• 7-foot-2 280 center Anton Bonke (Providence, offered by SJSU in 2023, signed Charlotte 4-30-25)
• 6-foot-2 freshman guard Isaac Williams (Texas A&M Corpus Christi, signed Baylor 4-26-25)
• 6-foot-7, 230 sophomore forward Jaden Daughtry (Indiana State, signed with Richmond 4-12-24)
• 6-foot-4 Jomo Goings (D2 Slippery Rock, signed LIU 4-28-25)
• 6-foot-7 Blaise Vespe (Florida Gulf Coast, signed Nova Southeastern University 7-2-25)
• 6-foot-4 Amiri Stewart (Sacred Heart grad transfer, signed with Campbell University 5-21-25)
• 6-foot-10 KC Ibekwe (Washington/Oregon State, signed with Pacific 4-30-25)
• Britain Harris junior 6-foot-4, 170 (USC Upstate, signed with Florida International 5-20-25 after initially committing to Pacific)
• 6-foot-5 Ryan Richardson (Missouri State West Plains, signed with Binghamton 5-20-25)

.......... 2025 ..........

2025 Talents Offered By SJSU But Not Signed (by position)

There are a number of prospects below whose 2025-26 destination could not be determined.

PG

• Jalen St. Clair 5-foot-11 NV (offered July 10, 2023)
• Aaron Glass 6-foot-3 CA (offered Dec. 28, 2022) (signed with Texas A&M, released, signed with Washington State 5-15-25)
• Mason Brown 6-foot-3 NV (offered May 10, 2023)
• Semetri Carr 5-foot-11 CA (offered June 23, 2023) (committed to California 9-14-24)
• Cam Miles 6-foot-2 AZ Compass Prep (offered July 20, 2023) (committed to Temple 9-25-24) (re-opened April 1, 2025) (committed to Florida State 4-17-25)
• Kisean Robinson 6-foot-3 GA (offered September 18, 2023)
• Cameron Carroll 6-foot-3 TX (offered June 24, 2024) (committed to Rice 9-4-24)
• Elijah Perryman 6-foot-2 CA (offered July 22, 2024) (committed to Utah State 9-16-24)
• Jaylen Lawal 6-foot-3 (offered 8/18/24) (committed to Tulsa 9/19/24)
• Adriel 'AD' Nyorha 6-foot-5 NC/Ontario CAN (offered 9/24/24) (committed to Arkansas State 11-1-24)
• 6-foot-3 V'Elijah Miller Chatsworth High (offered)
• 5-foot-10 LJ Rush (signed with Drake 9-5-25)

SG

• Jaden Vance 6-foot-5 AZ (offered June 3, 2024) (committed UC San Diego 4-27-25)
• Dorian Hayes 6-foot-4 TX (offered summer 2023) (committed to Texas San Antonio 10-23-24)
• Gavin Sykes 6-foot-4 CA (offered September 12, 2023) (committed to Long Beach State 10-25-24)
• Cy Merret 6-foot-5 LA (offered May 7, 2024)
• Caleb Versher 6-foot-3 CA (offered July 12, 2024) (committed to UC Riverside 10-22-24)
• Ian Inman 6-foot-5 TX (offered July 18, 2024) (committed to Colorado 9/18/24)
• Kaden Powers 6-foot-5 WA (offered August 21, 2024) (committed to Rutgers 10/11/24)
• David Brown 6-foot-7 Salt Lake City CC (offered 9/19/24) (committed Maryland Eastern Shore 5-22-25)
• Ylan Esso-Essis 6-foot-8, 220 Modesto JC France (offered 2-01-25) (signed UC Davis 5-12-25)

SF

• Damarion Vann-Kelly 6-foot-7 (interest mid-November 2024) (signed Florida CC 5-11-25)
• EJ Vernon 6-foot-7 CA (offered April 18, 2023) (signed with SoCal Academy 5-1-25)
• Kade Bonham 6-foot-7 CA (offered June 27, 2023)
• Jasir Rencher 6-foot-5 CA (offered June 28, 2023) (committed to Texas A&M 10/04/24)
• Kenyon Aguino 6-foot-7 NM (offered May 7, 2024) (committed to Montana 10/8/24)
• Kellen Hampton 6-foot-7 CA (offered October 6, 2022) (committed to Pacific 9/27/24)
• Lance Carr 6-foot-7 TX (offered June 24, 2024) (committed to UAB 9/10/24)
• D.J. Hall 6-foot-7 TX (offered June 27, 2024) (committed to Texas State 12/12/24)
• Frances Folefac 6-foot-7 225 Maryland (offered June 28, 2024) (committed to Sienna 4-24-25)
• Tyrin Jones, 6-foot-8, Utah (offered July 28, 2024) (committed to UNLV 9/8/24)
• Peyton White, 6-foot-6 (offered July 16, 2024) (committed to Nevada 9/4/24)
• Jacob Ross, 6-foot-5 CA (offered September 16, 2024) (signed with Minnesota, released, signed with UConn 5-12-25)
• Da'Ron Hall 6-foot-8 NC (offered October 2, 2024)
• Timo George 6-foot-7 IMG-FL (offered December 9, 2024) (signed with Portland 5/21-25)
• Travis Torrain 6-foot-7 Panola CC Tracy, CA (offered by SJSU 9-6-23) (committed to Austin Peay 4-22-25)

PF

• Gevonte Ware 6-foot-9 235 NC (offered June 29, 2024) (committed to Rutgers 9/24/24)
• Lonnie Bass Jr. 6-foot-8 NV (offered May 24, 2024) (committed Independence CC 6-4-25)
• Marcus Jackson 6-foot-7 AZ Compass Prep (offered July 8, 2024) (committed to Maryland 9-9-24, decommitted 11-11-24) (committed to Arizona State 4-7-25)
• D.J. Smith 6-foot-10 190 TX (offered July 19, 2024)
• Kam Wylie 6-foot-9 225 MD (offered June 28, 2024)
• Moustapha Loum 6-foot-9 200 France Putnam Science Academy (offered August 26, 2024) (signed Northwestern State 5-12-25)
• Kaiden Rayfield 6-foot-8 180 PHH Prep (Phoenix AZ) (offered Sept 6, 2024) (signed with Texas-San Antonio)
• Preston Copeland 6-foot-8 NC (offered 10-3-24) (committed to Ball State 10-26-24)

C

• Jax Kerr 6-foot-11 OK (offered December 29, 2023) (committed to St. Louis 9-5-24)
• Andre Ngomabie 6-foot-10 FLA/Congo (offered August 21, 2024)
• Timothy Finau 7-foot TX Athletes In Action prep team (offered January 23, 2025) (signed Holy Cross 4-21-25)

Diving Into the Makeup of the 2024-25 SJSU Roster

San Jose State University has 9 new scholarshipped players this season due to on graduations and transfers out. A longtime basketball truth used to be that such a large influx is too many to integrate into what will be for them new systems and schemes, as well as playing together as a team.

But nowadays, nine newcomers (or more) just might be an annual aspect for many teams. This season, Kentucky, Louisville and DePaul returned zero players. Granted, each team also hired a new coach.

Louisville formed a new team with 12 incoming transfers plus others, Kentucky did it with nine transfers as well as others. The DePaul program is utilizing 10 transfers this season. USC Coach Eric Musselman found one returnee when he arrived so he and his staff brought in 11 transfers.

"By running a statistical analysis of what’s been working so far, (stats guru) Evan Miyakawa came to three recommendations for college basketball roster building: Find good players, return over 50% of your starter minutes year-over-year, and recruit players that will play at least two seasons in the program."

Add in playing home games, at least for USC, which sports a 9-4 record and has played just one road contest. DePaul is currently 9-4 with three ventures out of Chicago. Kentucky is 11-2 with also but one away pairing. Louisville stands at 8-5 and two road trips.

What is also interesting locally is that SJSU is doing it on the cheap. There no overflowing pot of gold for Coach Tim Miles to call upon in his enticing talent efforts.

Here's a deeper Spartan dive

How did Miles and his assistants change a roster that finished 9-23/2-16? Two starters chose to depart, one is again starting at Boise State and producing at a similar same level he did while in Silicon Valley while the other is playing 10 minutes a contest/zero starts at Southern Methodist University while scoring 2.2 points per game. Each talent moved on to a team with a winning record this season.

6-foot-8, 260 starting center Robert Vaihola has returned after missing all of last season due to injury. The center spot likely was nicknamed matador (minus the final kill) during 2024-25 because opposing players had no fear going down the paint to the hoop. Vaihola may not jump sky high but he's a brick wall that stops forward motion. In 12 games/starts, he is currently averaging 8.6 points, 7.3 rebounds with 17 blocked shots.

The remainder of the Spartan starters are transfers, sometimes multiple times:

6-foot-5 Josh Uduje - London, England (Arizona Compass Prep/Coastal Carolina) He came over from Utah State and is leading the team in scoring at 17.6 points per game, tied for second at 4.8 boards, alongside 14 steals.

6-foot-5 graduate student and Stephen F. Austin transfer/graduate student Sadaidriene Hall is averaging 9.2 points plus 4.8 rebounds.

Born in Sacramento, UCLA transfer 6-foot-3 Will McClendon is producing 12.7 points plus 3.3 caroms and possesses a 31/6 assist to turnover ratio.

6-foot-5 Donavan Yap Jr. - The UNLV/Fresno State transfer is scoring 8.1 points an outing but not shooting all that well. On the plus side, he has the best assist to turnover numbers at 43/23 of his college career.

Prominent off the bench

6-foot-3 Latrell Davis, Leeds, England, is at 8.8 points per contest with a 21/8 assist to turnover ratio. He may have missed his calling because he takes the ball, looks for bodies to bang into and has attempted the most free throws on the team with 50.

6-foot-10 Seton Hall transfer Sadraque NgaNga (Angola, Arizona Compass Prep/Boise State) had one monster game early (29 points, 12 boards) but that was against a D-3 opponent. He is at 7.5 points and 3.8 rebounds nightly, the latter total remarkably split almost evenly between offensive and defensive, but he also has abysmal 3/15 assist to turnover numbers.

7-foot-2 Oregon State transfer and graduate student Chol Marial (South Sudan, Arizona Compass Prep/Maryland/) has displayed face-the-basket range in limited time and some shotblocking ability but has played in only six games due to injury. He is back now.

6-foot freshman Jermaine Washington began the season as a solid contributor but has quieted of late.

7-foot junior Adrame Diongue (Senegal, Arizona Compass Prep) is injured with plantar tendonitis and apparently will miss this season. He started at the center position in 2023-24.

6-foot-4 freshman Ben Roseborough still has his right foot in a boot and will seemingly miss this season. He has been absent due to foot issues for a long time but he will hopefully be back on the court for next season. If so and if healthy, he will be a tremendous addition to the program. Here is our Ben Roseborough January 2024 feature.

After 14 games this season, SJSU is 7-8, 0-3.

Now, two factors associated with Spartan recruiting success of late are worthy of explanation:

SJSU Assistant Coach Ed Gipson spent seven years as head coach at Arizona Compass Prep prior to arriving in San Jose. Hence, four players residing on the Spartan roster played for him at ACP. He has been remarkable at getting his former talents (one wing and three bigs) to choose San Jose State University. That's close to a remarkable one third of the roster.

Assistant Coach Jeff Strohm has Midwest roots and it's likely any recruits coming from that area are the result of his efforts. The same for Assistant Coach Damany Hendrix who is Nor Cal (East Bay) born. It's impossible to know who works the most on recruits coming from other areas of the country.

Another item worthy of note is how Miles and Company landed first Ben Roseborough and then 6-foot-6 Melvin Bell Jr. (in November of this year). The former was a hot recruiting item before injuries kept him sidelined with UCLA, Arizona, USC and the like moving on to other bluechippers as big time power teams can and will do.

SJSU offered Roseborough in September, 2022 and stayed on him until the guard made his decision for Sparta in December, 2023. Other schools in the running at the end: UC Santa Barbara, USF and Colorado State. The young man cited Coach Miles staying in touch as a prominent reason for the direction of his decision.

Bell Jr.'s recruitment started out big time but a major injury cooled off a number of his suitors. Illinois, Iowa, Iowa State, Michigan, Stanford, Missouri and Brown were among the biggest names in line. Eventually, that lessened to DePaul, Murray State, Ball State, Toledo and Eastern Michigan, along with San Jose State University (he visited Silicon Valley in mid-September 2024), remaining.

What Bell Jr. sidelined for close to a year? He shattered his tibia and ruptured his patellar tendon during an AAU game. But he rehabbed for close to a year and eventually returned to form.

Persistence has paid off twice for Sparta. When you don't have a fat wallet, well, perseverance doesn't cost much.

Latrell Davis to San Jose State University

The city of Leeds is located in West Yorkshire, England -- not exactly a paradise for college basketball recruiters -- but Leeds-born Latrell Davis has racked up a number of entries on his passport despite his still youthful age. Davis has earlier gone the FIBA amateur basketball route with England, played for the Great Britain's Under-18 squad, been a member of a pair of English national teams and then graduated with his high school degree from First Baptist Academy in Florida. Now he has rescinded a decision to play at two-year Florida Southwestern College, one the the Sunshine State's premiere hoops community colleges, by accepting a scholarship offer from San Jose State University.

At 6-foot-3, 205 pounds and as a combo guard, Davis already sports a college-ready body. "That sets him apart and is one reason he was able to be recruited as a freshman," explained Scott Stewart, Davis' head coach at First Baptist Academy in Naples. "He's pretty seasoned, is focused on his goals and is definitely a leader and hard worker." A captain of his team his last two years, Davis lived with an area family while residing in Florida.

Stewart has a remarkable tale to tell. While playing as a six-foot point for Florida from 1989 to 1993 and earning a Final Four appearance in his junior year, he enjoyed the mentorship of three prominent NCAA coaches in Norm Sloan, Don DeVoe and Lon Kruger during his time in Gainesville. Then came 13 years overseas playing with a bevy of European teams -- "an experience which helped me understand what a foreign player coming to the United States is going through," Stewart explained."

Stewart is also the son of a longtime basketball coach -- 36 years total -- and his father played alongside George Gervin at Eastern Michigan and under Jim Dutcher. Call the Stewart family basketball bonafides real.

Latrell Davis' Recruiting

With his pool of suitors reaching 10, Davis didn't feel comfortable with the collection. The fit he wanted was missing. As Stewart explained, "Latrell wasn't sold on the original group of schools pursuing him."   

Around this same time, Oregon (Phil Knight U) offered Florida Southwestern College 6-foot-6 sophomore shooting guard Jadrian Tracey and he committed, demonstrating the reality of jumping to a high level program after time at FSC.        

So Davis decided on Florida Southwestern (FSC) although a new batch of offers for his services from four-year schools quickly totaled five, "five nice schools" according to Stewart. They included Villanova, Florida Atlantic University (which made major noise in last year's Big Dance) and San Jose State University. The Spartan coaching staff pressed their case stating "he's physically ready and we don't want to wait until next year."

Intrigued by the SJSU offer, Davis took a look at game film of Spartan guard Omari Moore (the 6-foot-6 Moore enjoyed a brilliant season which concluded with him being drafted in the second round by the Milwaukee Bucks).

Stewart saw a shift taking place after Davis' viewing Moore's Spartan game video, moving to a "if he can make it, so can I" mind set. Davis then reached out to become a Spartan. 

As Stewart explained, "I'd give the whole (San Jose State University) coaching staff an 'A.' Assistant Coach Jeff Strom started it, then the whole staff joined in, including a Zoom call that included Latrell's mother. They put on a full court press."

Most promising is Stewart's assessment of Davis: "I definitely think he has a chance to blow up."

SJSU Basketball: Who Is Staying, Leaving & Being Pursued

With Mountain West Conference Player of the Year 6-foot-6 Omari Moore signing to turn pro, San Jose State University Coach Tim Miles not only has a huge scoring hole on his hands but also needs a go-to guy in the last seconds of games and possession counts. Is that talent currently on the roster or needs to be signed? 

Let's begin with the personnel knowns.

Signed

6-foot-3 shooting guard Pasha Goodarzi out of Valley Christian High, San Jose, inked a letter-of-intent in November. Goodarzi is a remarkable shooter, a talent needed on this squad. He's not the most athletic but has the hunger to really be prepared for his role and also to improve as his current workout routine indicates.

6-foot-10, 225 big William Humer, out of Sweden and attending McCook Community College (IL) where he just completed his freshman season also signed on with the Spartans. None of Humer's first-year stats stand out (49%, 34%, 60% shooting, 7.8 points, 6,5 rebounds, 21.7 minutes a game) leaving it difficult to pinpoint how much he will play and therefore contribute next season.

Committed

6-foot-8 guard/forward Diogo Seixas, attending a Florida prep school, comes from Portugal. He committed to SJSU back in February.

Recruiting Possibilities (as listed in various media entities)

The following are generally tweets connecting prospects to SJSU. Some of these posts remain current with interest on both sides, some are likely out-dated but it's impossible to tell which is which as nobody generally posts that so-and-so team or such-and-such player no longer has interest in a certain player/team. Also, we have eliminated posts of SJSU recruits of interest who signed/committed with other teams.

"6-foot-7 2023 prospect Jalen Carruth is down to six 

• San Jose State
• Florida A&M
• Louisiana Tech 
• East Carolina 
• UCF
• New Mexico State"

6-foot-9 2023 Xavier Edmonds is down to three:

• San Jose State
• Washington State
• New Mexico"

More.

6-0 point Tyler Rolison is mentioned in this article as having an offer from SJSU. He visited Nevada in mid-April after tripping to SJSU.

"6’11” Isaac Jack, formerly of Buffalo & FtErieAcademy, has heard from Arkansas St., George Mason , St. Bonnie’s, Grand Canyon, Oregon St, San Jose St, San Diego, Pitt, Portland, Portland St. He will visit Vanderbilt soon.

Dated April 26 2022: "Fort Erie C Isaac Jack will visit San Jose State this weekend. ETSU, St. Peter’s and Drexel have gotten involved in the last hour. Recruitment heating up for 1 of the top and toughest Cs in Canada"

Jack originally signed with Buffalo. He checks in at 250 pounds and in 31 games/20 starts and 16.4 minutes a contest as a freshman averaged 5.2 points and 4.6 boards, shooting 66% from the floor and 60% at the foul line. 

The Portal Report: "Southern Utah transfer Drake Allen tells TPR that he has received interest from:

• Utah
• Nebraska
• Portland
• BYU
• Bradley
• Bowling Green
• Utah Tech
• Indiana State
• New Mexico State
• College of Charleston
• UVU
• GCU
• UNLV
• San Jose State
• Pacific
• Seattle

Returnees

Below are the biggest contributors coming back:

6-foot-2 sophomore Myron (Vacaville High) Amey Jr. missed most of this season due to injury, will likely gain a redshirt year and is the most promising Spartan backcourt returner. He's a likely starter at shooting guard but will he be ready to contribute on a consistent basis?

6-foot-8, 245 sophomore power forward Robert (Archbishop Riordan) Vaihola surprised many after coming over from rival Fresno State as he scored 7.6 points a contest, shooting 71%, and grabbed 6.5 boards. He is the sole frontcourt talent with bulk.

7-foot, 220 junior center Ibrahima Diallo provided 6.0 points, shooting 59%, and 6.0 rebounds in just over 17 minutes a game as the starter in the middle. He led the Spartans with 58 blocked shots.

6-foot-1 sophomore point Alvaro Cardenas scored 10.0 points per game and produced a 120/69 assist-to-turnover ratio while shooting but 36% overall and 31% from long distance. Albeit a willing and able passer, he has difficulty creating separation on his dribble-drives, thus hindering his shot attempts in the paint and right now is best offensively as a catch-and-shoot marksman on kickout passes.      

6-foot-7 junior Trey Anderson and 6-foot-9 Tibet Gorener each remained inconsistent. The former is athletic with some shooting prowess (43-113 from three-point range) but is unpredictable with his production each game. The latter came in from Arizona with three-point prowess but shot 33% on 163 trey attempts in his second year with Spartans.

The Spartans also lost a freshman big in 6-foot-8 Max Allen, a bulky talent who played very little and decided to transfer, plus Leo Torbor, a frosh guard who also played minimally.

In Summary

The upcoming signing period run from April 12 to May 17. It's likely the next few Spartans will be from the transfer portal.

It's important that Myron Amey Jr. be consistently productive next season and that Miles brings in another backcourt/wing talent who can do the same.

Diogo Seixas is an intriguing scoring prospect at 6-foot-8 but is he ready for the physicality of college ball?

A third big is a must and hopefully someone with size, muscle and strength who can contribute immediately.

The Spartan 21-14 overall, 10-8 in conference play records were remarkable. Minus Moore, repeating those marks are not likely achievable. But even with Moore in 2022-23, nobody was predicting a 20 plus win season, so who really knows?

SJSU Posts Opening for an Assistant BB Coach

San Jose State University has posted an opening for an assistant basketball coach.

So who has departed? Ben Johnson, Damany Hendrix or Jeff Strohm? The latter was the latest hire.