UConn men’s basketball commit Corey Floyd Jr. to reclassify, join Huskies this fall

Fresh off helping his AAU team Team Final to the Peach Jam title earlier this summer, rumors began to swirl that Corey Floyd Jr., a class of 2022 commit for UConn, was considering graduating high school early to enroll this fall. On Thursday, those rumors became a little more official, with Floyd telling NJ.com’s Adam Zagoria that he’s heading to Storrs this fall to get his college career started ahead of schedule.

UPDATE: UConn confirmed Floyd’s early enrollment with a tweet on Tuesday, August 24.

The 6-foot-4 combo guard from Roselle, New Jersey, will join a backcourt that remains deep, even after losing star guard James Bouknight to the NBA. While RJ Cole, Tyrese Martin, Andre Jackson and Jalen Gaffney almost certainly will get first cracks at the starting lineup, Floyd will also have fellow freshmen Jordan Hawkins (No. 45 2021 recruit per Rivals) and Rahsool Diggins (No. 58) to contend with.

While Floyd flew under the radar for part of his recruiting process, his performance at Peach Jam — including a 12-point, five-assist performance in the championship game — vaulted him into the national conversation. As a junior at Roselle Catholic High School last season, Floyd averaged 16.5 points, 4 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game and was named Union County Conference Player of the Year.

According to his conversation with Zagoria, Floyd is open to the possibility of redshirting this season, but would play right away if he’s given the opportunity.

“If I go there and decide to redshirt the whole year, it will just be a year for me to just work on my game and surround myself with a lot of elite players at that college level and just get a feel of what it’s like,” Floyd told Zagoria. “But if my talent proves that I’m good enough to get on the court this season, then that’s exactly what I’m trying to do. I’m not trying to hold myself back from anything.”

Floyd’s early arrival marks the fourth time Dan Hurley has had a recruit enroll early. Akok Akok joined the Huskies midway through Hurley’s first season in 2018, while Richie Springs (reclassified from 2020 to 2019) and Javonte Brown (2021 to 2020) came to campus a year earlier than expected. Even though Brown transferred and Akok and Springs haven’t played a ton, it’s a clever use of scholarships that would otherwise sit vacant and allows promising young players an extra year to bulk up, adjust to college life and go against better competition on a daily basis.