Men’s Basketball Completes 2023 Recruiting Class

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Samford Men's Basketball Head Coach Bucky McMillan announced on Wednesday the finalization of the Bulldogs' 2023 recruiting class with the additions of Rylan Jones and Zach Loveday.

"I'm super excited about the recruiting class that we put together and I'm excited about the '23-'24 basketball season with the pieces we have in place," McMillan said. "This past week we signed two very good players who will fit perfectly in our basketball program as well as our university. Rylan Jones and Zach Loveday have played at the highest levels and have had great success."

Jones, a former back-to-back Mr. Basketball in Utah and Gatorade Player of the Year, joins the Bulldogs after spending his last two seasons at 2022-23 Mountain West Conference runner-up Utah State. The Holladay, Utah native saw action in 44 games in two seasons, averaging 6.5 points and a team-high 4.5 assists per game in 2021-22. Before joining the Aggies, Jones appeared in 45 games with 43 starts at the University of Utah over two years. He was one of just five freshmen in the country in 2019-20 to average more than 9.5 points, 4.0 assists, 2.5 rebounds, and 1.0 steals per game.

Loveday played his first three collegiate seasons at Baylor University, where he appeared in 13 games off the bench during Baylor's National Championship run in 2020-21. A native of Gallipolis, Ohio, Loveday appeared in 38 games over his career with the Bears. Loveday is a former top 100 recruit and was ranked as the No. 2 player in Ohio and No. 20 center in the 2020 recruiting class by ESPN.

"They are winners who have won championships throughout their careers. I am really looking forward to coaching both of these student-athletes," McMillan said. "However, I am most excited about seeing Rylan and Zach thoroughly enjoy the experience of being a Samford Bulldog. As I know, they will have great joy on the journey to bring Samford another Southern Conference championship."

The Bulldogs inked freshmen Lukas Walls, Riley Allenspach, and Josh Holloway, helping them lock down the top recruiting class in the SoCon on on3.com. Walls was named the 2023 TSSAA Division II-AA Mr. Basketball winner on Monday, March 13, while Allenspach was rated a four-star prospect by ESPN while being ranked the eighth-best player in North Carolina and seventh-best by 247 Sports. Josh Holloway spent his senior season as the starting point guard at Oak Hill Academy, one of the top prep programs in the nation.

Dallas Graziani and Garrett Hicks make up the Bulldogs' other two transfer signees. Graziani helped lead Division II Nova Southeastern to its first-ever national championship and just the sixth unbeaten national title season in the history of D-II Basketball in 2022-23, finishing with a record of 36-0.

Graziani finished second in all of D-II with 241 assists and 85 steals last season while averaging 6.7 assists per contest and 11.3 points. Hicks averaged a team-high 12.8 points per game at Alabama A&M in 2022-23 while shooting 40 percent from three. He started in 103 career games while in Huntsville, where he averaged 12.6 points per game over four seasons.

"As it pertains to the 2023-2024 recruiting class as a whole, we wanted to recruit winners who were unselfish people that would flourish athletically, academically, and socially at Samford University," McMillan said. "I am confident that we have filled our positional needs and have the talent and character to compete at a high level."

The Bulldogs are coming off a 2022-23 campaign that saw them clinch their first Southern Conference Championship since joining the league in 2008. Samford finished with a 15-3 conference record that earned them a share of the regular-season crown and matched the 1998-99 team for most conference wins in a season.

Coach McMillan agreed to a seven-year contract extension on Monday, May 1 that runs through the year 2030.

"Now it is time for this current recruiting class and returning players to gel into a connected unit," McMillan said. "I am eager to get to work with our new team right away! I also can't wait to partner with our great supporters, to once again, make the Pete Hanna Center the toughest place to play in the Southern Conference."

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