| Talor Battle. |
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; November 8, 2006 - New York state high school basketball standout Talor Battle (Albany, N.Y.) has signed a national letter of intent to play for Penn State and fourth-year head coach Ed DeChellis. Rated the No. 17 point-guard recruit in the nation by Rivals.com, the 5-11, 160-pounder made the official announcement at a press conference this afternoon at Bishop Maginn High School in Albany, N.Y.
"We are very excited to have Talor join our basketball family," DeChellis said. "He is an outstanding person and an outstanding player. He is extremely quick and fast with the ball and has a tremendous outside shooting touch and a great demeanor on the floor.
"Talor was well coached by Rich Hurley at Bishop Maginn and we are really looking forward to the next four years with him competing in a Penn State uniform and in the Big Ten Conference."
Battle averaged 29.4 points, 5.4 assists and 5.9 rebounds a game in his junior season as he led New York's Section II in scoring and posted two games with 40 or more points. A deadly perimeter shooter, he finished second in the section with 82 three-pointers while hitting nearly 40 percent from behind the arc. He was named the Big 10 Division Player-of-the-Year and earned multiple Player-of-the-Year honors from the Troy Record, Schenectady Gazzette and Fox 23 Sports. Rivals rated him No. 111 among the top recruits in the nation and Scout.com listed him No. 25 among point-guard recruits. He also garnered honorable-mention on the 2006-07 Street & Smith's Boys High School All-America Team and was invited to the Nike All-America Camp last summer.
"I have been kind of anxious for today, but now that it's done I am relieved," Battle said. "Penn State did a really good job of recruiting me. They showed interest from the beginning and even when I was hurt and down in the dumps they were there. They did a great job of staying in contact and coming up to see me. I really like the coaches and they have great facilities, and once I got to know some of the players it just really seemed to fit." Battle was born in Harrisburg, Pa., living there until age seven, and has many family members still residing in the area. A three-year varsity starter entering his senior season at Maginn, Battle spent one year at Catholic Central High School in Troy, New York before moving to Maginn. He helped lead Maginn to a 16-7 record and third place finish in the league last year and will be the centerpiece of a veteran squad that will be among the favorites this year. He recorded his 1,000th career point in early January of last season and is on pace to post well over 2,000 on his career.
"He is very quick in the open floor and applies lots of pressure on defense," Hurley said of his senior guard. "He is always in attack mode and has really increased his range in the last year, so now he can shoot it well from four or five feet behind the line. With his quickness, that makes him a really tough cover. Defenders have to decide if they want to back off or not.
"He's very unselfish and very athletic. I think Penn State fans will be surprised when he gets in the open floor and at 5-11 throws down a dunk instead of laying it in. He's really become a great playmaker and passer. The two greatest plays he made last year where at the ends of games when he drew two or three defenders and dumped the ball off to his teammates for the winning shot."
Battle also excels in the classroom. A member of the National Honor Society, he carries over a 90 percent average in the classroom and is enrolled in advanced placement classes.
Penn State has one scholarship remaining for the class of 2011. The early signing period began today and runs through Nov. 15. Penn State opens the season Friday, Nov. 10 with a 7:30 p.m. tip in the Bryce Jordan Center vs. Morehead State.