Since IU Coach Archie Miller came to Bloomington, his first point of business was to recruit in the state of Indiana.
He accomplished that with his 2018 class as three of the top four recruits in the state committed to play basketball at IU, including the number one player, Romeo Langford.
That class comes into IU as one of the most anticipated in school history, since the 2015 class that included Thomas Bryant, OG Anunoby and Juwan Morgan.
Miller is always on the recruiting trail and has continued his stellar job by gaining his first 2019 commit in Armaan Franklin, a three star recruit from Indianapolis.
Franklin was the first domino to fall in the 2019 class but Miller has bigger targets on his board, such as Trayce Jackson-Davis and Keion Brooks, rated second and third in the state, respectively.
Jackson-Davis is ranked the 15th best recruit in the country and has interest in IU, Michigan State and UCLA. Brooks is 21st in the country with interest from IU, Kentucky, Michigan State, UNC, UCLA and Purdue.
Both five-star prospects are attracting attention across the country, but IU’s newest recruit has been trying to reel both of them into committing.
Franklin has been extremely active on Twitter after committing to IU, even posting pictures with Jackson-Davis and Brooks urging them to “stop playing”.
Franklin has become an integral part of recruiting other big time players to IU. He even spent some time with Jackson-Davis and Brooks during Hoosier Hysteria, especially in the renovated locker room.
Another big player in recruiting was Langford, who was seen hanging out with Jackson-Davis and Brooks during their visits to Bloomington.
Langford is familiar with these recruiting allegiances because of his involvement with Darius Garland, who committed to Vanderbilt, and Quentin Grimes from Kansas. Both schools were included in the three that Langford was deciding between.
During his recruitment, Langford actually went through something similar as Franklin, except he was on the other side of things.
Garland and Grimes consistently commented on Langford’s Instagram posts pleading for him to commit to their schools because of his sheer potential.
The presence of social media has changed the landscape of recruiting and has broken down some of the traditional barriers that recruits used to have.
With social media being such a useful tool, it allows committed recruits, such as Franklin, to contact other potential recruits in regards to coming to IU.
This is useful because the NCAA prohibits coaches from contacting players during specific times of the year. During these specific circumstances, current recruits can still urge others to join them, such as Franklin with Jackson-Davis and Brooks.
Only time will tell if Franklin’s recruiting tactics worked with Jackson-Davis and Brooks, as they have yet to begin their senior seasons.
