Brey welcomes trio of guards

When Mike Brey looks at his latest recruiting class he sees a lot of versatility. That’s exactly what he likes in his program.

The Notre Dame head coach also sees three players who are going to challenge for immediate playing time.

On Wednesday, Brey announced the official signings of Eric Atkins, Jerian Grant and Alex Dragicevich, a trio of backcourt players the 10th-year head coach expects to be in the mix from Day One when they enroll at Notre Dame next summer.

“Really, if you look at them they’re smart enough to see you’ve got Jon Peoples and Tory Jackson out the door and Ben Hansbrough a senior (next year),” Brey said. “The only guard in the program is Joey Brooks. So certainly those guys will all compete for playing time as freshmen.”

Atkins, a four-star prospect from Columbia, Md., and the No. 58 player in the latest Rivals150, is the most likely to contribute right away.

With Jackson graduating in the spring, Brey plans to turn the keys to his offense over to Atkins from the start.

The 6-foot-1, 170-pound point guard averaged 22 points, five assists, four rebounds and two steals per game as a junior at Mount St. Joseph’s High School and improved his game running point for D.C. Assault on the AAU circuit.

Atkins has been prepping himself to be a starting point guard in the Big East since making a verbal commitment back in April. After his official visit to Notre Dame in mid-October, he found more room for improvement for his senior season at Mount St. Joseph.

“The main thing I really thought about was I saw their practice … and how Tory got after it,” Atkins said following his official visit. “Pretty much that’s gonna be my spot, my role, when I get there. Seeing that and seeing how hard he plays, the way he communicated with everyone, that was the main thing on my mind.”

Although Atkins got things started as the first commitment in the Class of 2010, that wasn’t the only way he impacted how the current group of signees rounded out.

He has a longstanding friendship with Grant, a four-star prospect and the No. 92 prospect in the latest Rivals150, because of his proximity to DeMatha Catholic High School in the Washington, D.C. area.

Grant earned a scholarship offer after a strong July evaluation period with Team Takeover. With Brey and assistant coach Rod Balanis both being DeMatha Catholic graduates themselves, Grant’s connections to the program were strong on paper.

The 6-foot-4, 180-pound guard followed up with an official visit the first weekend September and committed to Brey in person at DeMatha a few days later.

Brey admitted it was extra sweet to sign a player from his alma mater.

Grant, whose father Harvey and uncle Horace both played in the NBA, paid respect to the DeMatha-to-Notre Dame connection and also to joining Atkins in an Irish uniform.

“Eric’s a great guy, a great teammate,” Grant said after going with Atkins on the campus visit in October. “And I haven’t seen him play in a long time, the things he was doing, I was like, ‘Wow.’ He’s better than even what I thought. He’s a true point guard. He does everything well.”

The third member of the class committed in what seemed like an instant.

Dragicevich, a three-star prospect from Northbrook, Ill., and Glenbrook North High School, earned a scholarship offer despite missing the first portion of the July evaluation period with a broken finger.

By Aug. 4, the 6-foot-6, 210-pound shooting guard had committed after an unofficial visit to campus. It all seemed to happen in a flurry but, Dragicevich didn’t see much point in playing out the process after he knew Notre Dame was the place.

“I think it was because after going through with the broken finger and just so long without coaches being able to see you play, I knew Notre Dame fit my style,” Dragicevich said. “After my visit I knew it was going to be a really good fit. Could other schools have jumped on? Maybe.

“Maybe I could’ve taken a harder look, but really when I think about it personally they’re just really the best fit for me. I didn’t have to wait. I thought about other schools but Notre Dame definitely outweighed them.”

With their national letters of intent in to Notre Dame, it doesn’t matter how these three guards ended up signing with the Irish. All Brey knows is he’s happy to have them. They’re exactly what he needed to fill the program’s needs.

“They all play like the guards that we need to play in our system,” Brey said. “Every position, interchangeable parts, you can give them freedom to play and they have a good feel for the game.”