Name: Jarrid Famous Position: Center Height: 6-11 (2.11m) Weight: 240 (109kg) College Team: South Florida Bulls Nationality: American Birthplace: Bronx, New York Birthdate: 7/16/1988 Drafted: Automatically eligible for the 2011 NBA Draft but was not drafted by an NBA franchise.

Background: As a high school senior coming out of Blessed Sacrament, Jarrid was anything but famous on the recruiting scene. The ailing program wasn’t very good, but Famous, along his cousin, Curtis Dennis (New Mexico), took the program to new heights. Together they helped lead the program to the New York Class B championship, while Famous averaged 17.7 points and 6 rebounds per game.

Virtually unknown even in his own state of New York, Hartford University quietly secured a commitment, beating out contenders Charleston and Long Island for his service. Famous didn’t feel that he was getting the respect of bigger colleges and, compounded with unstable grades, prevented him from attending Hartford. This caused Famous, alongside his high school teammate, Curtis Dennis, to take a prep year at Gulf Shores Academy.

Unfortunately, his poor scholastic situation reared its ugly head once again as he did not achieve an adequate SAT score for college entrance At the urging of his father, Famous decided went on to junior college at Westchester Community College focus on academics and raise his profile with recruiters. This is where he exploded on the junior college scene, averaging 23.5 points, 12.3 rebounds and 3.0 blocks per game during his two seasons.

The top 10 JUCO selected South Florida over Seton Hall, Missouri, Arizona, and Houston. Much of this had to do with his relationship with South Florida coach Stan Heath, and the ability to go into a situation where playing time wouldn’t be an issue. In his first season of Division One basketball, Jarrid Famous has been solid. The general trend Junior College players is that their final season is always their best.