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The Student Newspaper of DePaul University

The DePaulia

The Student Newspaper of DePaul University

The DePaulia

The Student Newspaper of DePaul University

The DePaulia

Tyger Campbell and Bryan Penn-Johnson spotted at Wintrust

Tyger+Campbell+and+Bryan+Penn-Johnson+spotted+at+Wintrust

When Wintrust arena opened its doors on Saturday, two four-star recruits, Tyger Campbell and Bryan Penn Johnson, were in attendance.

The first notable recruit in attendance at the scrimmage Saturday is probably the one more familiar to DePaul fans. Four-star La Lumiere point guard Tyger Campbell committed to play basketball for the Blue Demons in May, but the commitment didn’t last long.  Campbell announced via Twitter in early September that he would reopen his recruitment.

In an interview, Campbell didn’t expand on why he had reopened his recruitment, merely saying that it was a “family decision.”

Regardless, Campbell seemed very comfortable in a DePaul basketball setting on Saturday. He chatted it up with former high school teammate Brandon Cyrus after the game and seemed to know a lot of different people in the crowd as well.

There are five current Blue Demon players who attended La Lumiere High School and assistant coach Shane Heirman was the head coach at La Lumiere for three seasons before he joined the Blue Demon coaching staff in May 2017.

In May, Campbell told Shannon Ryan of the Chicago Tribune that he originally committed to DePaul largely because Heirman coached there and the two have such a strong connection. DePaul hopes that its deeply-rooted relationship with La Lumiere will give it an advantage over other schools when Campbell makes his final decision on where he will attend college.

The other potentially program-altering recruit was hard to miss, as his 6-foot-10-inch frame made it nearly impossible for him to blend in with the crowd as he sat courtside with his family.

DePaul basketball welcomed four-star, class of 2018 big man Bryan Penn-Johnson to Chicago this weekend. The Blue Demons have vigorously recruited him this fall, even sending its full coaching staff out to Wasatch Academy in Utah to watch him play in mid-September.

According to ESPN, he’s received offers from Florida State, Oregon, USC, Washington and West Virginia, among other schools. He has now taken an official and an unofficial visit to DePaul.

The appearance of the two top recruits could show that the fabled magic of Wintrust as a recruiting tool may already be working, but that will not be certain until one or both make a commitment.

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