Men's Recruiting: Lindsey Key Among Rider's Group

Here's another in the series looking at players joining conference programs for the upcoming season.

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RIDER MEN

- KHALIL ALFORD (6-4 guard, Fishburne Military Academy, Raleigh, N.C.): He averaged 15.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists at Fishburne, a prep school, last season. Prior to that, as a high school senior, he averaged 19.0 points, 9.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists during the 2010-11 season. He is also an exceptional athlete, having also competed in football and baseball in high school.

- SHAWN VALENTINE (6-7 forward, Phelps School, Malvern, N.J.): He averaged 15.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 2.4 steals per game last season, and was named his program's Defensive Player of the Year.

- DERRICK STEWART (6-5 forward, Neumann-Goretti H.S., Philadelphia): He was the Philadelphia Catholic League's Defensive Player of the Year this past season, although no offensive statistics are available. While at Neumann-Goretti, his team won four consecutive PCL titles and put up a 111-11 record over his four seasons. He joins his older brother, Daniel Stewart, on the Rider roster.

- JAMEL NWANIEMEKA (6-4 guard, Conwell-Egan Catholic H.S., Philadelphia): He led the Philadelphia Catholic League in scoring with a 24.4 ppg. average in PCL games last season. He also averaged 10.2 rebounds, 2.5 steals, 2.3 assists and 2.1 blocks per game and wa named the Bucks County Player of the Year last season.

- ZEDRIC SADLER (6-2 guard, Cody H.S., South Kent, Mich.): He averaged 18.7 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 3.2 steals and 2.1 blocks per game this past season and was named "Mr. West Side" of Detroit.

- NURIDEEN LINDSEY (6-3 guard, transfer from St. John's): He averaged 11.8 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.9 asists in nine games at St. John's last season. A graduate of Overbrook H.S. in Philadelphia, he played a season at Redlands Community College before attending St. John's and averaged 22.3 points (sixth nationally at the junior college level), 5.5 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 2.5 steals per game. At Overbrook, he averaged 35.8 points per game over his sophomore and junior seasons. His application to play immediately at Rider was recently approved by the NCAA, and he has two full seasons of remaining eligibility.

ANALYSIS: Lindsey is the key addition for the program, giving the Broncs a potential all-league caliber player who is already experienced at a higher level at college play. A friend who is a former assistant coach at the mid-major level who saw several of Lindsey's games at St. John's last season describes him as "a quick, scorer/slashing guard who will have an impact at Rider." Otherwise, Rider's other five incoming players bring a little bit of everything to the program, including immediate quality depth and a strong group to build with in future seasons.