San Diego State already had one Southern California prep star coming next season. Now it has another.
Bellflower St. John Bosco High School guard Elzie Harrington, a four-star prospect rated in the top 50 nationally by one recruiting service, decommitted from USC earlier this week and pledged his allegiance to the Aztecs on Wednesday afternoon.
“Let’s Work!” he posted to X (formerly Twitter).
The versatile 6-foot-6 senior initially committed to Harvard last June, then switched to USC in December to be closer to his father, Dr. Darrell Harrington, the former associate director of Harbor-UCLA Medical Center who has been battling glioblastoma brain cancer. He has the size and skill to play multiple backcourt positions, either as a jumbo lead guard, a combo point or a more traditional 2.
The Aztecs lost three seniors from last season’s roster, and two more scholarship players entered the transfer portal. Tae Simmons, a 6-7 forward from Heritage Christian High School in Northridge, was their only fall prep commitment, giving them four available scholarships.
Three were used on veterans in the transfer portal: 6-1 point guard Sean Newman Jr. from Louisiana Tech, 6-9 forward Jeremiah Oden from Charlotte and 6-3 guard Latrell Davis from San Jose State.
Harrington averaged 16.4 points and 5.1 assists per game for a St. John Bosco team that featured several top prospects. The coach, Matt Dunn, is a USD alum who is familiar with the Aztecs program, having sent point guard Jeremy Hemsley to SDSU when he coached at Damien High School in La Verne.
Harrington is rated a four-star prospect by all the top recruiting services, ranked between No. 47 and 66 nationally by Rivals, ESPN and On3.com. 247Sports ranks him No. 133 but still gives him four stars.
Jamie Shaw, On3.com’s recruiting analyst, called him a “high floor type prospect,” adding: “The intriguing part of Elzie Harrington’s game is the ability to score. He has positional size that goes along with his handle to get to spots in the half-court. He has a smooth jump shot and consistent release. … (He) plays with a good pace, he rarely gets rushed. He finishes through at the rim and can knock down a spot 3 on ball reversals.”
Harrington said his father always told him to “be good enough to go to Duke, be smart enough to go to Harvard.” He took that advice to heart and orally committed to Harvard last June.
As his father’s health situation worsened, he wanted to be closer to home and flipped to USC. Now he’s staying in Southern California but at SDSU.
“Honestly, it hasn’t been easy,” Harrington told the Southern California News Group a few months ago. “I have a great relationship with the coaches and guys at Harvard, too. But, at the end of the day, I had to put my family first. That’s something I believe in is, without my family, I can’t even really play basketball.”
Last December, St. John Bosco played in the Tournament of Champions in Washington, Ill., a national prep event that doubles as a fundraiser for glioblastoma, which took the life of a legendary high school coach there.
“That’s my role model,” Harrington told an Illinois TV station about his father. “He’s been that way since I was a kid. He’s so strong right now. He’s fighting, dealing with what he has to deal with. He just sets a good example for me every day. I look up to him a lot.”
