Charlotte 49ers still recruiting big men

After signing three guards and receiving a verbal commitment from an undersized forward, the Charlotte 49ers continue to recruit much-needed big men.

Two of them are graduating this spring and will have a year of eligibility left – Wake Forest’s Daniel Green and Eastern Michigan’s Olalekan Ajayi.

Green is a 6-foot-10 forward whose career with the Deacons was marked by two knee injuries, which forced him to miss his entire sophomore and junior seasons. He played just four games last season and visited Charlotte earlier this week.

Ajayi, a 6-11 center from Nigeria, averaged 1.5 points and 3.7 rebounds for Eastern Michigan last season.

Charlotte’s frontcourt is extremely thin after the transfers of center Mike Thorne (Illinois) and power forward Willie Clayton (Georgia State).

Backup forwards Bernard Sullivan and Cameron Blakley return and 7-footer Benas Griciunas is eligible after transferring from Auburn.

First-year coach Mark Price has signed guards Curran Scott, Andrien White and Jon Davis and has a commitment from 6-4 forward Anthony Vanhook from Cape Fear Community College in Wilmington.

▪ There’s no chance that guards Torin Dorn and Keyshawn Woods return to Charlotte, sources close to both players told the Observer.

Woods and Dorn have received their releases from Charlotte and are beginning the process of looking at other schools.

Dorn, last season’s Conference USA freshman of the year, has been offered a scholarship by Miami. Dorn scored 17 points against the Hurricanes in a game at Halton Arena last season.

As conditions of their releases from Charlotte, Conference USA and Davidson have been blocked from recruiting Woods and Dorn. Tennessee is also blocked from going after Dorn.

This story was originally published May 17, 2015 at 6:22 PM with the headline "Charlotte 49ers still recruiting big men."