Chattanooga State's Jurick signs with Mocs

Former East Ridge and former University of Tennessee basketball player Philip Jurick has signed scholarship papers to play at UT-Chattanooga beginning next fall.

The 6-foot-11 Jurick reached No. 68 on the Rivals.com list as one of the nation's top recruits out of high school. He chose Tennessee over the likes of Indiana, Florida and other basketball powers.

But after taking a redshirt season with the Volunteers, he transferred to Chattanooga State, where he will play this season. Pending graduation from the community college, Jurick will arrive in UTC's program as a sophomore with three years of eligibility.

"I didn't take any other visits," Jurick said Thursday. "I wouldn't want to go away to a bigger school or anything. I really wanted to stay in town. UTC was the only one."

When he was at East Ridge, his sheer size quickly eliminated UTC from the list of possible schools when compared to SEC, ACC and Big Ten competition.

He fell behind with his grades at Tennessee, but when he determined UT was not the place for him, coach Bruce Pearl refused to grant Jurick a release. That meant he could not transfer to an NCAA Division I school. A junior college was his only option, and knowing he wanted to be closer to home, Jurick chose Chattanooga State.

He also knew he had to grow up.

"Like anybody, I got stuck in the real world, and I had to pick one path or another," Jurick said. "Coach (Darryl) Yarbrough (at East Ridge) helped me out a lot in just maturing and figuring out that East Ridge wasn't the whole world.

"I don't regret anything. I enjoyed my year at Tennessee."

And he doesn't regret any of his recent decisions.

"Everything has been sailing so far," Jurick said. "The past couple weeks I took my visits to UTC and got to talk to them about basketball and stuff off the court."

Mocs coach John Shulman said Jurick easily passed the most important test -- the same one Chris Early passed with flying colors -- hanging out with his wife and three sons.

"Everybody knows Philip Jurick, and everybody has a story and you hear everything," Shulman said. "But I'm a big believer in making your own decisions, and I had to meet Philip because I hadn't talked with him.

"I was amazed with the maturation of Philip. We had a great first visit. He's grown up and he'll be the first to tell you he has more growing up to do."

Some of that maturation will occur under Chattanooga State coach Jay Price, who is good friends with Shulman.

"I'm excited that he's at Chatt State because he's with a great coach and at a great school," Shulman said. "I trust Jay and look forward to watching Philip's development."

Chattanooga State opens its season tonight at Southwest Tennessee in Memphis.