UTEP Basketball announces initial wave of 2017 signees

The 2017 class for Tim Floyd could be one of the largest, and deepest class Floyd has signed at UTEP to date, and the first wave of what could be a five-to-seven man class of 2017 was announced today.

Kobe Magee, Isiah Osborne and Trey Wade were announced as UTEP signees today.

Magee was UTEP's first verbal commit for the class of 2017 back in February, and has held true on that commitment despite a rise in his recruiting stock since his commitment.

Magee is a 6-0, 140-pound guard from Brandeis High School in San Antonio. He averaged 17.9 points as a junior with 79 three-pointers, helping Brandeis to a 31-2 mark and a top-10 state ranking. He has scored 1,281 points in 89 prep games (14.4 ppg) with 147 three-point field goals and owns a career .421 percentage from beyond the arc. A starter since his freshman year, Magee has garnered All-District honors twice and has been a part of three 20-win teams. He was appointed to the Northside NISD and San Antonio ISD All-Tournament teams on a pair of occasions.

“Kobe is a young man who knows how to win,” Floyd said. “Our coaching staff felt like he was as good of a point guard as we saw all summer long. He’s got a lot of talent. He can shoot the three, he has great quickness and great ability to make other players around him better. We think teammates are going to love playing with him. He allows us to get closer to one of my dreams, which is playing two point guards at the same time. That’s something our great teams have been able to do in the past with Tim Hardaway and Jeep Jackson [at UTEP] and with Willie Worsley and Bobby Joe Hill back in the day [at Texas Western]. We’ll have other parts of that component to announce tomorrow.”

Osborne of course transferred to UTEP this past summer from Canada, but will not be eligible until next season, but is able to practice and attend school.

“Isiah has been able to practice with us this year and we’ve loved what we’ve seen,” Floyd said. “He’s 6-5 and can play multiple positions. He also possesses great athleticism. The year he played at the University of Windsor and the year practicing with us will give him a head start next year.”

Wade was a nice late pickup earlier this summer from Austell, Georgia, but is working on the academic side of the ledger to become eligible. He averaged 19.1 points and 7.5 rebounds as a senior in 2015-16, shooting 48 percent from the field and is drawing lofty expectations from Tim Floyd.

"Trey has a chance to be as good as any player we’ve brought here the last six years,” Floyd said. “He can play multiple positions on the floor. He is a terrific athlete who also offensive rebounds the ball. He played in the most competitive district in the south where 11 seniors signed with high-major programs, including North Carolina. The coaches in his league all felt he was one of the great talents in that conference. Sitting out this year will serve him well. He played on the same AAU team as [former Miner] Lee Moore and his AAU coach feels he has the opportunity to play beyond the college level one day.”

UTEP has five total verbal commits for 2017 which did not include Osborne or Wade, expect high school prospects Evan Gilyard, Ladarius Brewer, and Tirus Smith, along with highly touted JUCO guard/forward Roderick Williams to be announced either tomorrow, or in the coming days.