Baltimore forward commits to DePaul

DePaul basketball head coach Oliver Purnell has signed Montray Clemons to a National Letter of Intent, the the sixth signee in Purnell’s first recruiting class at DePaul.

Clemons joins fellow Baltimore natives and current Blue Demons Cleveland Melvin and Brandon Young next season in Lincoln Park.

“Montray is a very versatile player that gives us even more flexibility with the things we are trying to do,” said Purnell. “I believe he will fit with our pressure defense and pressure offense system.”

Clemons, a 6-8 forward, played at Mack Academy last season in Charlotte, N.C. after his first three prep seasons Baltimore Poly in his hometown of Baltimore, Md. Clemons was also a teammate of Melvin in the Cecil Kirk AAU program.

He heads to DePaul next season along with Macari Brooks (Richton Park, Ill.), Jamee Crockett (Crete, Ill.), Shane Larkin (Orlando, Fla.), Charles McKinney (Evanston, Ill.) and Derrell Robertson (Mendenhall, Miss.) for a six-player class of freshmen in 2011-12.

That freshmen class will joins transfer Donnavan Kirk next season. Kirk joined the Blue Demons in January and will be eligible to play following the conclusion of 2011 fall quarter exams just before the Thanksgiving holiday. The Pontiac, Mich. native was a redshirt freshman at Miami (Fla.) at the start of the 2010-11 season.