Myles Corey commits to Rams

Rhode Island snared a commit from Myles Corey earlier this week — just announced tonight by Corey on his Instagram page. The 3rd Team All Sun Belt guard out of South Alabama becomes the fifth announced transfer portal add for Archie Miller and staff, joining guards Jonah Hinton (St. Bonaventure) and R.J. Johnson (Georgia Southern), and forwards Keeyan Itejere (Northern Kentucky), and Alex Crawford (Fresno State).

An explosive athlete with a 48” vertical leap, Corey’s ascent has mirrored his vert, from Jessup University (NAIA) to South Alabama and now Rhode Island and the Atlantic 10. As a member of the Jaguars last season, Corey averaged 13.8 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 4.3 assists per game on 43% shooting from the floor. He has one season of college eligibility remaining.

We connected on his decision to attend Rhody and the motivating factors:

• Beyond NIL, attraction to Rhody. “How basketball-centric we are. The coaches were really detailed in their plan and philosophy on how they were going to get me better. That’s what attracted me the most. And then just me wanting to become a pro… there's a lot of pros around URI and how family-oriented they are with their connections. I’m trying to get to the next level and this is another step — and they are very detailed in that plan of getting me there. I am appreciative of that and they were taking me serious and not just feeding me food for thought.”

• What was the development plan in particular. “One of the biggest things I struggled with last season was my shot-making… and they broke down how I was going to make 25,000 shots in the summer to prepare me (Editor’s note: not take 25k, make 25k) for the upcoming season. And then going through my decision-making with the ball in my hands, I gotta be able to make reads on the fly and do different things to control the flow of the game… all while within playing the game. I have to learn these extra next level steps in order to get to the next level.”

• Other schools involved heavily. “I went on a visit to Temple right after Rhode Island. And I was talking to Washington State and Univ. of South Florida. Speaking with the coaches, they drew my eye, my family’s eye… we’ve been talking since the beginning. URIs attraction never changed, they were never any different with how they approached me, how serious they were about me — and it just showed.”

• Best part of your game. “Honestly, I make people better and excited to play the game of basketball. I do it through my play and I do it through how I build relationships with others… but I love to get downhill, get on the rim, dunk the ball, make reads and make the game easier for everybody to shoot shots and make them — and be confident in their abilities.”

• Family, process, and sifting through rapid-fire info. “I had some seasoned veterans that have been in the game for a long time - not just basketball but business in general - so they can tell and see through those lines of people just feeding you things to believe it, or if they’re really speaking about it and can stand on those principles. Having a core group that understands the extra detail and me being the player and focusing on the basketball side. Super helpful to me in deciding which directions I should go and helping me stay focused on basketball.”

• Who at Rhody? “Yeah, it was Duane (Coach Woodward). He’s been helping me with the process. All along we hopped on the phone. We would talk and make the rubber meet the road — the things we need to move forward in the process as well as the expectation. Rhode Island was very clear from the beginning. Obviously, Coach Archie and I were also on the phone a lot, just checking in and talking about other things, not just basketball.”

• On helping to improve team defense. “I’m pretty athletic and I like to play athletically. With me, I’d set the tone so we can bring some athleticism to the point guard position… make sure I bring the intensity, that guys know I’m here to bring the energy, and be athletic - pick up guys, disrupt the ball, be athletic on the wing and block shots and things of that nature. Setting the tone for our defense is what I’m looking forward to doing, and guarding some of the best guards in the country.”

• Rhode Island, campus/state. “I’ve spent time in Maine at Bridgton Academy and played throughout New England and Rhode Island, so knowing a little bit about the vibe on the East Coast, I know how to adjust and understand what it is. In the Town of Kingston, there’s not as much to do but basketball and it will help me focus. In some other cities there are more distractions. Rhode Island gives the vibe of staying focused and worrying about what I need to. If I need an escape I can go to Providence or Massachusetts is right there too, so I can do different things. But keeping the main thing the main thing and staying focused on the basketball side is really attractive to me.

CDD: So basketball and beaches then, right?

MC: That sounds like a pretty good combo to me.”

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Photo by Courtney West/South Alabama Athletics