Fordham Gets Verbal Commitment from Tabor's Jesse Bunting

Fordham's youth movement continues.

Coming off a summer in which the Rams welcomed five new players to Rose Hill—Eric Paschall, Nemanja Zarkovic, Christian Sengfelder, Dekeba Battee-Aston and Zaire Thompson—and brought back two redshirt freshmen—Antwoine Anderson and Manny Suarez—it's hard to imagine that 2015 will be as eventful.

But Sunday brought news that Tabor Academy's Jesse Bunting had verbally committed to Fordham, keeping the roster overhaul in motion.

Bunting is a 6'8" forward who transferred from Plymouth North High School to Tabor in 2013. The Massachusetts native also plays for the Expressions Elite AAU program.

"

Blessed to say I have just committed to Fordham University as a student athlete#GoRams

— Jesse (@JesseBunting) September 15, 2014"

Chris Millette, head coach at Tabor, said that Bunting had 12 or 13 offers from schools. According to the New England Recruiting Report, he had narrowed his choices to four—Fordham, Quinnipiac, Duquesne and Saint Joseph's—before deciding to go with Fordham.

"I’m excited [for him]," Millette told Bleacher Report on Monday. "He was rock-solid in his mindset. Coach [Tom] Pecora and those guys did a great job recruiting him. Obviously it’s a great academic school. I couldn’t be happier for him. I think it’s a good fit."

Like other recent recruits, Millette said that Pecora and his staff played a huge part in Bunting's decision.

"I just think he felt comfortable with the coaching staff," Millette said. "They made the Buntings feel important and that they cared about him beyond basketball."

Bunting is an intriguing addition for Fordham. He's a big man whom Millette described as having a great "motor." When identifying his skills, Millette said that as talented as he is now, he should become even better over time.

"He’s incredibly athletic," Millette said. "For his size he can dribble, rebound and go coast-to-coast.

"There’s such a big upside. He plays so hard and he’s so athletic. He’s just scratching the surface. I can only imagine what he can be when he’s 21 or 22 years old."

Millette said that Bunting has worked hard "to develop some skills." He mentioned a couple of times how Bunting has become a good shooter from 15 feet away from the basket. Once the tallest player on his team, he's had to make some adjustments as he's gotten older and the competition has gotten better. As a result, the 15-foot jumper has become a consistent part of his repertoire.

"[If he] continues to hit the 15-footer, he’s going to become really tough because he’s so long, so athletic," Millette said. 

It's not hard to see a future for Bunting in the Bronx.

Fordham enters the 2014-15 season with a frontcourt that has only one upperclassman, junior Ryan Rhoomes. Ryan Canty, a senior, will be out at least until mid-December following back surgery.

The Rams will rely heavily on Sengfelder, a freshman whose size and versatility have been on display during the offseason, and Paschall, the program's prize recruit, for help in the frontcourt. And they'll have to hope that Battee-Aston can develop his game.

This is a team in rebuilding mode. Bunting is another piece to the puzzle.

"Coach Pecora, and everybody there, was pretty honest," Millette said. "They didn’t try to hide from the record. It is what it is. But they talked a lot about the guys coming in and the optimism and things going on the right track. They think Jesse could be a big piece of that."

As the Rams continue to make over their roster, Bunting is the second player to verbally commit. Matt Zignorski, a guard from Pope John XXIII High School in New Jersey, gave his verbal commitment in July.

Quotations and injury updates in this article were obtained firsthand.

Charles Costello covers the Fordham Rams for Bleacher Report. A full archive of his articles can be found here. Twitter: @CFCostello