Recruiting News: Pe'Shon Howard Backs Out of Commitment to Harvard, Penn Gains 4th Recruit for 2010

Above, Penn coach, Glen Miller watches from the background as Cornell's Louis Dale drives past former Penn guard, Harrison Gaines. Gaines transferred to Cal Riverside during the summer.

The Daily Pennsylvanian breaks the recruiting news on the east coast that Penn received its fourth commitment for the class of 2010 this week, while Harvard lost the verbal commitment of Pe'Shon Howard. See the Daily Pennsylvanian story below:

After Penn nabbed its second 2010 recruit earlier this month, it appears that Glen Miler has grabbed two more recruits.

And just like Austin Kelly, these new recruits hail from the Los Angeles area.

According to the LA Times, Capistrano Valley (Mission Viejo, Calif) teammates Casey James (6-foot-3 guard) and Kevin Panzer (6-8 forward) have both committed to Penn. James originally gave an early verbal commitment to San Diego back in 2007 (according to ESPN insider), but he’s since backed out of that.

ESPN gives James a 76 grade and in December 2007 called him “the most prolific shooter in the west” alongside a Santa Clara signee. But perhaps Panzer is the bigger catch. For one, he definitely is coming to Penn, as ESPN insider, Rivals and CBB all have him listed as a Penn commit (ESPN has yet to change James’ status from the SD verbal). Though he’s just the 164th best forward, Panzer gets a 78 from ESPN, which last September said “At his size there may not be another 4-man around the country that can shoot like him.” He looked at four Pac-10 schools (Cal, Arizona State, Stanford and Washington) as well as San Diego, Colorado and Gonzaga (the last two schools were on his short list with Penn).

If nothing else, check out this myspace video with Panzer and James. It looks like Penn is going to get some more dunkers.

But with the addition of Panzer — will there be Panzer tank-inspired roll outs?– and probably James as well, Penn would have six players from California on its 2010-11 roster: Panzer, James, Kelly, incoming freshman Malcolm Washington (Denzel’s son), and rising juniors Conor Turley and Tyler Bernardini.

Of course, that’s assuming no more Californians transfer away.

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In other Ivy recruiting news, it appears that Pe’Shon Howard has backed down from his earlier statement (see #3) that he’d attend Harvard if admitted. Now, in an email to ESPN.com, he said after discussing the matter, he’s “wide open and considering every school in the country.” In addition to the Crimson, he’s looking at Maryland, Stanford, Arkansas, Xavier and other big conference schools.