Former Georgia Tech signee Romello White had plenty of suitors knocking on his door, and perhaps he wasn’t heavily considering Arizona State at that time. A visit this past weekend to Tempe changed that perception in a hurry, as the Marietta, Ga. product became the latest addition to the Sun Devils.
The 6-9 220-pound White is ranked no. 87 among all 2016 prospects, and has double digits offers from high-major programs such as Kansas, Marquette, Texas A&M and Virginia Tech.
The forward was committed to Tennessee in January of 2015 and later that year decommitted in favor of Georgia Tech which he signed a national Letter of Intent with last November. When Georgia Tech’s head coach Brian Gregory was fired and replaced by Josh Pastner, White asked and received a release from his scholarship and has been exploring other options such as Baylor, Michigan, and Missouri.
ASU was a school he was in contact with even before signing with the Yellow Jackets and was plenty intrigued with the program to seriously consider them in recent weeks.
The rest, as they say, is history.
“I loved everything on my visit really,” White said. “The school is beautiful. I love the coaches and I know they will be there for a while too. The team is looking good and I know I will have a lot of minutes coming in my first year. I know this is a good choice. I don’t like the cold at all, and when they said it’s going to be hot there year-round, I fell in love with the school.
“I was hosted by Kodi Justice and he told me that this is a great program and all you have to do is put in the work to get out what you really want. If you work hard you’ll be good. The facilities were amazing. The dorms where the players live in are like a resort. When I saw them (the dorms) on Saturday I knew this is where I was going to school.”
The fact that ASU returns only two low-post players capable of playing the center position, in Jethro Tshisumpa and Andre Adams, both yet to play for the Sun Devils, has naturally caught White’s eye as the opportunity for immediate playing time if not a chance to start as a true freshman.
“The coaches told me that they needed another front court guy to come in and play strong minutes,” White described. “I’m a bully under the rim. I move well and I can rebound.”
Ryan Falker who is one of White’s coaches on his Game Elite AAU Club talked to the Devils Digest in a previous interview about White’s traits.
“Romello is a low-post scorer,” Falker described. “He’s long and athletic, tough player. He will need to add a perimeter game and improve his jump shot. But around the bucket, he is a big time player.”
White’s signing with ASU now gives the Sun Devils three newcomers who ranked in the Top-150 list of 2016 prospects as he joins Sam Cunliffe (no. 36) and Jethro Tshisumpa (no. 110).
