Florida Transfer Brandone Francis-Ramirez Set To Visit Rutgers

Rutgers continues to explore the transfer market, as they attempt to add to the roster for next season and beyond.

Florida transfer Brandone Francis told @CBSSports he will visit Texas Tech June 3-5 and Rutgers on June 10-12.

— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) May 17, 2016

The 6'5" guard from the Dominican Republic is leaving Florida and will have three seasons of eligibility remaining. He averaged just 2.0 points, 1.0 rebound, and 0.5 assists in only 10.8 minutes per game in his first season on the court for Florida after redshirting during the 2014-2015 season. Although he struggled shooting the basketball last season, Francis-Ramirez is a former 4-star recruit out of Arlington Country Day School in Jacksonville, Florida and was highly sought after in high school.

According to 247 sports, Francis-Ramirez had offers from UCONN, Florida State, Cincinnati, Illinois, Indiana, Miami, West Virginia, and Louisville coming out of high school. Rutgers associate head coach Karl Hobbs was at UCONN at the time, so that could also potentially help in his pursuit now.

Coincidentally, this is the same school that 3-star commit Issa Thiam played for at the end of this season. Director of Player Development Greg "Shoes" Vetrone was initially the lead recruiter on Issa when he was an recruiting assistant under Eddie Jordan and was key in securing his commitment. There is actually another Rutgers connection with the school, as Kansas State transfer Wally Judge also attended Arlington Country Day and played for both Mike Rice and Eddie Jordan between 2012-2014.

Rutgers hosted N.C. State transfers Caleb and Cody Martin last week. A key question is whether Rutgers would actually take the Martin brothers, who are a package deal, along with Francis-Ramirez. All three are former 4-star recruits, but the likelihood is probably slim. While the twins are wing players and Francis-Ramirez is a shooting guard, taking all three would leave zero scholarships available for the class of 2017.  Although that can always change, it's also likely the staff is still hoping to land a graduate transfer in the backcourt that can play right away next season.  This affords the coaching staff roster flexibility as well, as the scholarship would open back up for the 2017-2018 season. Rutgers has 20+ offers out to players from the class of 2017 as of now.

As of now, ESPN ranks Caleb Martin the #2 transfer available and Francis-Ramirez as the #5 transfer. In addition to Texas Tech, schools like Purdue, Louisville, and Arizona State have reached out to the Florida transfer.  It is encouraging to know Rutgers is in the mix for Francis-Ramirez and the Martin brothers, with the hopes they at least land one or the other.  The Martins are likely to make a decision before mid-June, when Francis-Ramirez is scheduled to visit, so their decision could certainly affect the interest level of both Brandone and Rutgers in each other.