{"id":157562,"date":"2025-09-01T15:28:55","date_gmt":"2025-09-01T19:28:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=157562"},"modified":"2025-09-01T15:28:55","modified_gmt":"2025-09-01T19:28:55","slug":"4-star-center-collin-ross-vcu-commit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/09\/01\/4-star-center-collin-ross-vcu-commit\/","title":{"rendered":"4-Star Center, Elite Post Defender, Commits to VCU"},"content":{"rendered":"

A four-star center, who is an elite post defender in the 2026 class, verbally committed to VCU on Monday, according to reports<\/a>. Fast-rising Collin Ross, who is a top-10 center in his cycle per Rivals, gives the Rams their second verbal pledge in the 2026 class. The 6-foot-10 Ross chose VCU over other suitors such as Dayton, Saint Louis and Santa Clara, among others, according to 247Sports.<\/p>\n

4-Star Center, Elite Post Defender, Commits to VCU<\/h2>\n

Ross had recently been on an official visit to VCU and then verbally committed to the Atlantic 10 Conference member shortly thereafter. He told 247Sports national analyst Dushawn London<\/a> that he has a strong relationship with the entire VCU staff, led by assistant coach Ryan Daly. Per 247Sports, Daly and his Rams colleagues believe that Ross has future NBA potential.<\/p>\n

In the 2025-26 season, Ross will be a senior suiting up for the post-grad team at the powerhouse Spire Academy in Geneva, Ohio. According to recruiting services, his full offer sheet included squads such as VCU, Xavier, Seton Hall, Saint Louis, Vanderbilt, Akron, Appalachian State, the College of Charleston, Dayton, George Mason, George Washington, Murray State, St.\u00a0Bonaventure and Tulane, among others.<\/p>\n

Ross is somewhat of a late bloomer in the senior cycle. At the time of this writing, the industry-generated 247Sports Composite<\/a> had him at No. 121 overall, No. 19 at power forward and No. 6 in Ohio. However, when Rivals updated its 2026 rankings not too long ago, Ross soared. Rivals<\/a> has him at No. 46 nationally, No. 8 at center and No. 3 in Ohio.<\/p>\n

4-Star VCU Commit is an Excellent Post Defender<\/h3>\n

In mid-August, Rivals national analyst Jamie Shaw<\/a> published an in-depth piece on the top post defenders in the 2026 class. He labeled Ross as the No. 1 post defender in his cycle, which is a huge compliment for the VCU verbal commit. The Rivals expert characterizes Ross as a fluid, agile athlete who can efficiently guard multiple positions around the perimeter and in the interior.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

During the latest AAU season, Shaw noted that Ross is still developing his offensive game and has to add strength. But he’s shown that he can defend other talented big men well, and Ross has the most upside as a post defender in the 2026 cycle, according to Shaw.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Top Performer in AAU<\/h3>\n

In the latest grassroots hoops season, Ross played for the 17U team of the Woodstock, Ga.-based Outside The Perimeter in Puma’s <\/span><\/span><\/span>PRO16 league. In July, when this circuit conducted its season-ending playoffs in Henrico, Va., with college coaches on hand, Shaw<\/a> named <\/span><\/span><\/span>Ross one of his top performers.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

During the PRO16 playoffs, Ross continued to show why he’s one of the top defensive big men and rim protectors in the 2026 class, although Shaw said that Ross knocked down a couple of 3-pointers. He’ll need to find more consistent production, but Ross’ offensive game is improving. He can shoot from the perimeter, finishes through contact and is a viable scoring threat in pick-and-roll sets.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

VCU Out and Running with 2026 Class<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n
\"Mar
Mar 20, 2025; Denver, CO, USA; VCU Rams guard Brandon Jennings (0) shoots the ball against the Brigham Young Cougars during the second half in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Ball Arena. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Most of the top prospects in the 2026 cycle have yet to make a college decision. VCU has two verbal pledges. They are Ross and four-star guard\/small forward <\/span><\/span><\/span>Sammy Jackson, who verbally committed to the Rams earlier this June. The 6-foot-7 Jackson, a top-70 national prospect, is a standout at the Roman Catholic High School of Philadelphia.<\/p>\n

While it’s early for team rankings, following Ross’ pledge, VCU’s 2026 class is currently No. 3<\/a> overall, per the 247Sports Composite. That’s a great beginning to this cycle for head coach Phil Martelli Jr. and his staff.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a9 Junfu Han \/ USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A four-star center, who is an elite post defender in the 2026 class, verbally committed to VCU on Monday, according to reports. Fast-rising Collin Ross, who is a top-10 center in his cycle per Rivals, gives the Rams their second verbal pledge in the 2026 class. The 6-foot-10 Ross chose VCU over other suitors such […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5596,"featured_media":157582,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,773,3],"tags":[3772,2742,2743,850],"class_list":["post-157562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-college-basketball","category-news","tag-college-basketball-recruiting","tag-dayton-flyers","tag-saint-louis-billikens","tag-vcu-rams"],"modified_by":"Jordan Pagkalinawan","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5596"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157562"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157562\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":157587,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157562\/revisions\/157587"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}