LITTLE ROCK — Clarksville point guard Dederick Lee has reopened his recruiting, his father said Thursday morning.
Lee, 6-2, 160 pounds, is considered one of the top high school basketball players in Arkansas going into next season and had given the Arkansas Razorbacks an oral commitment as a sophomore shortly after receiving a scholarship offer May 21, 2011.
Oral commitments are nonbinding.
Frederick Lee said he met with Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson on Wednesday and informed him of his son’s decision to rescind his pledge. Frederick Lee said he and his son believe Lee’s oral commitment to the Razorbacks placed extra pressure on him and led to a subpar junior season.
Lee was named as the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Sophomore of the Year after averaging 27.5 points and 7.0 assists a game while leading the Panthers to the Class 4A state title.
He averaged 21 points a game as a junior, when he led Clarksville to a second consecutive state title and was named first-team All-Arkansas by the Democrat-Gazette.
“There was a lot of pressure on him after committing,” Frederick Lee said. “I want him to get back to the player he was his sophomore year before he committed.”
Frederick Lee said his son is still very much interested in Arkansas. He said he understands that colleges will start contacting his son more following the decision to reopen his recruiting, but he said he plans to keep his son from being distracted by the attention.
“I’ll keep him out of the spotlight,” Lee said. “I’ll handle all that, and hopefully that will all go through me instead of him.”
Frederick Lee said Anderson told him that he understood the decision.
“He said he had seen that [Lee’s] game had slid some from the previous times he had seen him,” Frederick Lee said. “He said he felt it would be a good decision to go ahead and do that, and he appreciated me coming up there and talking to him about it.”
Dederick Lee was one of two oral commitments the Razorbacks had for the 2013 class. The other commitment, Little Rock Hall power forward Bobby Portis, orally committed to Arkansas last August.
Sports, Pages 21 on 06/15/2012