CSU basketball signee C.J. Keyser opts for prep school

C.J. Keyser said he backed out of his plans to play basketball next year for CSU in favor of a year of prep school to hone his skills.

Keyser, a 6-foot-4, 190-pound guard from Balitmore, signed with the Rams in April out of Sunrise Christian Academy in Bel Aire, Kansas, where he was a high school senior this past school year. He decided earlier this week to instead attend prep school for the 2015-16 academic year. He said he's fine academically, and his decision is based entirely on wanting to develop more athletically before playing college basketball.

"Nothing bad happened; Colorado State's still recruiting me," he said Friday. "I'm just doing it to be more ready at any school I decide to go to."

Keyser said Colorado State University's still at the top of his list of preferred colleges, but he's opening up his recruitment again to see what other offers he might get. He said he'll decide at the end of this month whether to attend Sunrise Christian's prep school or Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire.

Coach Larry Eustachy and his CSU assistants were not available for comment Thursday or Friday, a school spokesman said.

"He is an elite athlete with tremendous size at the guard position," Eustachy said in an April 17 news release, announcing that Keyser had signed with the Rams. "He has a good skill level and has a chance to be an elite defender."

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Keyser was rated the No. 2 prospect out of Maryland and No. 20 shooting guard in the country in the 2015 signing class by ESPN, which rated him a four-star recruit on its scale of 0-5 stars. Rivals.com rated him a three-star prospect.

Keyser originally planned to attend prep school for a year before going to college but changed his mind and reclassified from a 2016 recruit to the 2015 class last winter. Now, he's going back to his original plan.

He said CSU coaches understand why he made the decision he made, and he still talks to them every day.

"Academically, I'm set," he said. "I just would feel more comfortable taking a prep year, so I'm prepared better for coming in to play right away."

CSU signed four players last fall and added junior-college point guard Kimani Jackson and Keyser to the recruiting class in April. The Rams have either five or six scholarships available for the incoming class, depending on whether or not point guard Antwan Scott is receives a medical hardship waiver and additional year of eligibility. He appeared in four games last season before being sidelined with a foot injury.

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