Saint Mary’s landed its third commitment in the Class of 2015 Wednesday night, as 6-foot-2 point guard Stefan Gonzalez announced via Twitter that he’ll join Randy Bennett’s program next season. Gonzalez attends Highland HS in Pocatello, Idaho, where he averaged 19.7 points per game as a junior. Gonzalez’s ability to crack defenses off the dribble and solid perimeter shooting ability are areas scouts have cited as positives when assessing his skill set.
Gonzalez played for the Idaho Select program this summer, alongside Oregon State commit Tres Tinkle and Montana commit Jared Samuelson.
— Stefan Gonzalez (@Stef_Gonzalez2) September 25, 2014
Saint Mary's College!!! #GoGaels pic.twitter.com/s6Y6gxL91w
— Stefan Gonzalez (@Stef_Gonzalez2) September 25, 2014
Gonzalez joins guard Tanner Krebs and guard/forward Kyle Clark, both of whom are from Australia, as 2015 prospects who have committed to Bennett’s program. The Gaels, who won 23 games and finished fourth in the WCC last season, will lose some backcourt pieces at the end of the 2014-15 season.
The group of players who will be out of eligibility at the end of the upcoming season include graduate transfers Aaron Bright and Desmond Simmons, and seniors Kerry Carter (9.3 ppg) and Garrett Jackson (3.9 ppg).
With that being the case the Gaels needed to add pieces to the backcourt in order to account for those losses. In addition to the three verbal commitments Saint Mary’s will also add Boston College transfer Joe Rahon, who will have two years of eligibility remaining after sitting out the 2014-15 campaign. Joe Coleman, who sat out last season after transferring in from Minnesota (7.2 ppg as a sophomore in 2012-13), will be a redshirt senior in 2015-16.