JuCo All-American Jaylen Barford cuts list to five; Xavier still in the mix

According to jucorecruiting.com:

Barford's top 5 schools are: Arkansas, Missouri, Memphis, Xavier and Ole Miss

It's not entirely clear if those are the only five schools left in the hunt (though it is being reported as such), but at the very least Xavier is still near the top of the list. Barford, you may recall, visited the Xavier campus on June 26th. At that point in time he was being described as a priority recruit for Xavier; I don't see anything leading to the thought that his status has changed.

Barford is a 6'4" combo guard at Motlow State, where he put up 20.6/7.1/5.1 on .525/.327/.701 shooting as a freshman. He also averaged 2.2 steals and nearly a block per game while only committing 55 fouls in 27 games, 25 of which he started. He is strong on his way to the rim, shifty in transition, and committed and effective on defense.

With the 2016 being a big class for guards for Xavier, you would have to think Barford, Kobi Simmons, and Markelle Fultz are all interconnected when it comes to the Musketeers' approach. If any of those three guys wants to commit to Xavier, I don't see the staff waiting around to hear from the other two before pulling the trigger.