Less than a month after committing to St. John’s and saying he wanted to be part of the program’s revival, three-star guard Jaquan Sanders has opened up his recruitment.
The talented 6-foot-3 guard from Far Rockaway, Queens tweeted the news and then told The Post the decision came following a series of conversations with his family about what was best for his future.
“My mom doesn’t want me to stay in New York. She wants me to go to another place she knows I’ll stay focused and be focused. That was really it,” Sanders told The Post. “It definitely was a tough decision. It was really hard. Decommitting wasn’t really on my mind at first, but then a lot of things started happening. It was sitting down with my mom and having a serious conversation about it.”
“A lot of violence going around my neighborhood, things like that. St. John’s is probably about 20 minutes away from my house, so my mom didn’t want me to be around a lot of negativity going around, like my friends being around me, telling me things going on. She wanted me to be focused [in college].”
Sanders, a priority recruit the staff had been on for several months, picked St. John’s over Seton Hall on Sept. 14. Two of his high school teammates at Our Saviour Lutheran, Posh Alexander and Dylan Addae-Wusu, are sophomores at St. John’s. At the time of his decision, Sanders said he was excited about attending his hometown school. On Monday, Sanders said his decommitment was strictly about the location of the school, and was not the result of anything that was lacking in regards to the program.
During the recruitment, sources said his mother, Lisa, was unsure about her son going to college so close to home, worried it could negatively impact him. His older brother, Jermaine, went away to school at Cincinnati.
Sanders is the first prospect to decommit from St. John’s since Mike Anderson arrived.
When asked if he would still consider Seton Hall moving forward, Sanders said he was unsure. Losing him is a blow to Anderson’s 2022 recruiting class, trimming it to four-star wing AJ Storr and three-star guard Kolby King.
Sanders is a quality shooter and playmaker, capable of creating his own shot and making plays for others. Last season for Our Saviour Lutheran, Sanders averaged 19 points, seven assists, four rebounds and two steals. He shot 39 percent from 3-point range and 44 percent from the field.