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Fresno State lands signature from former Kansas State commit Robert Upshaw

RodneyTerry

Former Kansas State commit Robert Upshaw has chosen to stay local and play for coach Rodney Terry at Fresno State.

Upshaw was originally committed to Frank Martin and the Wildcats, but departed from the school when Martin took the head coaching position at South Carolina.

For Fresno State, a program that went 13-20 last season in Terry’s first year at the helm, scoring a Top 50 player like Upshaw is a boost.

“I called him. He didn’t even say, ‘Thank you.’ Nothing,” Upshaw told the Fresno Bee after signing the letter Sunday. “He just like dropped the phone and there was like a blank silence for a whole five minutes. So I ended the phone call and called him back and said, ‘You still there?’

He is a wide-bodied, 6-11, 250-pound center who will have a chance to make an impact in the Mountain West, where Fresno will be headed next season.

Upshaw averaged 18.1 points, 11.9 rebounds, and 4.5 blocks per game last season for San Joaquin (Calif.) in 2011-12.

Terry is putting together a solid recruiting class, now that Upshaw is on board, which includes former Kansas commit Braeden Anderson, who was ruled a partial qualifier for the Jayhawks this past academic year and did not play.

Upshaw was a unique case when he decided to leave Kansas State, as he never signed a letter of intent to play at the school. Instead, he was with the Wildcats under an athletic aid agreement, which made it easier for him to opt out and head to Fresno State.

“After what just happened with my recruiting process and me not attending Kansas State, I sat down and really thought about it and I felt like me and Coach Terry’s relationship the past four years has been something that has been building,” Upshaw told the Fresno Bee. “I feel like I can make this program better as a player, as an individual.”

Daniel Martin is a writer and editor at JohnnyJungle.com, covering St. John’s. You can find him on Twitter:@DanielJMartin_