Anderson to play with USCB hoops; Jenkins football players sign; All-Star game set for Wednesday

Qurahn Anderson has all the tools, and the mindset, to excel against top competition on the basketball court -- and the Windsor Forest senior set his future in motion on Monday when he signed to play at the University of South Carolina at Beaufort.

Anderson was a key player on the Knights run to the Class 3A state title game in his junior season, but he missed the last few games of the playoffs as a serious medical condition sidelined him.

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The illness came back at the start of his senior season, but Anderson fought through it to rejoin his team, and the senior leader had an excellent year -- earning Region 3-2A Player of the Year honors as he averaged 17.3 points per game. He was a Class 2A All-State first-team pick by Sandysspiel.com as he helped lead the Knights to the Elite Eight in the state tournament and a 23-7 record.

"I chose USCB because coach (Ron) Fudala was straightforward with me," Anderson said. "He told me what he liked about my game and things that I need to work on. He said I could have an impact right away. It's going to be the first season of basketball at the school -- and that will give me a chance to be part of history there."

Anderson will be joining Woodville-Tompkins' Alfonzo Ross on the USCB roster -- the pair are AAU teammates on the Georgia Ignites team.

"We've played together a lot and have good chemistry. He's a great shooter and I like to drive in the paint -- so we'll be doing a lot of driving and kicking," Anderson said. "Playing at Windsor Forest has prepared me for this. Coach (Aaron) Clark and Coach (Dancial) Jackson (now an assistant at Savannah State) ran practices like a college program. They always expected the best out of me."

Clark said it was an emotional moment seeing Anderson sign to play college ball.

"Qurahn has worked so hard and battled through so much adversity with his illness to get back on court," Clark said. "And he came back to lead us in scoring and to the Elite Eight. He one of my favorite players I've ever coached, and I'm really proud of him."

Pridgen, Leggett, Smith and Gadson of Jenkins sign with college football programs

Josh Pridgen was looking to build on a tremendous junior season as a running back for Jenkins, but a knee injury held him back from playing his best this year.

But one team never backed off on its recruitment of the athletic back and Pridgen made that persistence pay off for Northern Illinois when he signed with the program on Thursday, with three of his teammates also putting pen to paper.

As a junior, Pridgen rushed for 1,087 yards and 12 touchdowns -- including a 214-yard, three-touchdown performance against New Hampstead in the final game of the regular season.

Pridgen was slowed down by the injury in is senior season as he rushed for 356 yards and three scores after missing five games. The injury turned out to be a knee bruise, without and structural damage.

"Missing those games hurt Joshua because the film just wasn't there," Jenkins coach Anthony Welch said. "He was receiving interest from schools like Iowa, Iowa State and Wake Forest -- they loved him, but he just didn't have that senior film. But NIU stayed with him and he'll be a good fit there. He has that speed and vision, and he's tough enough to be a three-down guy. I think what sets him apart is his old-school style. He never gets pushed back, he's always got that body leaning forward to get the extra yard."

He will join another player with Savannah roots as former Beach star Antario Brown is a standout running back at NIU. Brown, a rising junior, rushed for 689 yards and seven scores this season.

Keshon Leggett had a standout senior year for the Warriors as a defensive back as he had three interceptions, three passes defended and 26 tackles to earn first-team All-Region 1-5A honors. Leggett will stay close to home as he signed to play at Savannah State.

"Keshon is very athletic and versatile," Welch said. "He could play multiple positions and I could see him ending up as a slot receiver or a safety at SSU. But I think they are getting a steal in Keshon -- he's in top shape and he's a heady kid with great speed and instincts."

Troy Smith is another versatile athlete from the Warrior program and Welch said he won team MVP honors this season. Smith signed to play with Shaw University, a Division II program in Raleigh, N.C.

He rushed for 411 yards and a pair of scores, threw for 223 yards and a touchdown and had seven catches for 73 yards. He also had an interception on defense.

"Troy is a great athlete -- he was the MVP of our team and of our basketball team this year," Welch said. "There were some other schools like Shaw, Fort Valley and Carson Newman looking at him and they wanted him as a DB. But Shaw is looking at him as an H-Back. He's a good route runner with speed and he liked that because he wanted to stay on the offensive side of the ball."

Gadson is a 6-2, 290-pound center who also excels in the classroom as one of the top student athletes at Jenkins. He was receiving interest from schools such as Mercer University and St. Thomas, before ending up at Allen University, a Division II HBCU in Columbia, S.C.

"Joshua is a good center with a high football IQ and he'll be a long snapper, too," Welch said. "Allen University is known for its academics so it was a great school for Joshua."

Savannah Country Day shooter headed to Florida State

Owen Haas started clay shooting for fun about four years ago, and the Savannah Country Day senior began to take it seriously about a year after that.

Blessed with a natural talent for the sport, Haas took his skills to the next level thanks to the help of some top-notch coaches at the Forest City Gun Club. He led the SCD Clay Target Club to the GIAA State title, beating Savannah Christian and Benedictine, who won the two previous state team titles, back in November as he took home an individual state crown.

On Tuesday, March 21, Haas celebrated with his SCD teammates as they received their state championship rings. He has enrolled at Florida State, where he will join the Seminole Shooting team, which competes nationally at the club level.

"I started the sport through a friend of my dad (SCD coach Eric Haas), and I got my butt kicked that first year, but had a lot of fun," Haas said. "I got into it and we got the team started at our school. We worked our rear ends' off and won the state championship this year. I'm looking forward to shooting in college at FSU, I hope to do well in national events and help the program improve."

Kenderrick Bonner lands Rockdale job

Kenderrick Bonner, who stepped down in January after five seasons as the Johnson football coach, has been hired as the new head coach at Rockdale County High in Conyers.

Bonner turned around an Atom Smasher program that had won three games in the previous three seasons before he took over in 2018. He led Johnson to back-to-back playoff berths in 2020 and 2021 and posted a record of 17-31 in his tenure.

"Rockdale was a good fit for me for family reasons. My wife has a lot of family up there, I have a brother-in-law with two daughters that are the same age as our kids and they'll be going to school together, so it was a great opportunity to have them grow up close with their first cousins."

Rockdale plays in Class 6A and competes in Region 3-6A. The Bulldogs went 2-17 over the last two seasons and their last playoff appearance was in 2014, but Bonner said he has a good foundation to build on.

"We've got some big guys returning on the offensive line," Bonner said. "And the entire defensive secondary is coming back and they're all seniors."

Bonner will finish out the year teaching and coaching at Johnson as an assistant with the track and field team.

Senior Showcase All-Star basketball event set for Wednesday

The Savannah Senior Showcase All-Star Basketball games are set for Wednesday night, March 29, at Savannah High, with the girls game set for 6 p.m. and the boys tipping off at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available at GoFan.

Girls expected to play include Calvary Day's Hannah Cail ; Janiyah Heyward, Sanai Chisholm, Jayla Coleman, Dyquria Taylor and Drakiyyah Lewis of Woodville-Tompkins; Devin Long and Veronica Sierzant of Islands; Kayla Bivins and Aaliyah Williams of Beach; Tayla Vereen and Raina Cannon of Windsor Forest; Paris Washington and India Stafford of Savannah High; Hilton Head Christian's Jaida Grayson and Zakerria Hall and Shi'Asia House of South Efffingham.

The boys list of players includes Antonio Baker and Malachi Robinson of Johnson; Shamarrie Hugie and James Leach of Beach; Amarion Watson and Leonard McCann of Savannah High; Alfonzo Ross, Wesley Walker and Terrence Bush of Woodville-Tompkins; Zyere Edwards and Kaleb Lofton of St. Andrew's; Khari Manning and JaQuawn Singleton of Groves; Jordan Dorsey and Stephon Frazier of Benedictine; Jah'Tavious Gaines, Qurahn Anderson and Ahmad Grovener of Windsor Forest; Juwan Boggs and Troy Smith of Jenkins; Zsolt Boros and Edwin Carter of Memorial Day and Jonah Coppock and Naviier Collins of New Hampstead.

Dennis Knight covers sports for the Savannah Morning News. Contact him at Dknight@savannahnow.com. Twitter: @DennisKnightSMN

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: USCB basketball teams gets Windsor Forest star Qurahn Anderson