Seth Soffian

ssoffian@news-press.com

Ricky Doyle is getting a fresh start on his college basketball career, and he’s getting it at home.

The 2014 Bishop Verot High School graduate announced Tuesday he has chosen FGCU over USC, UCF and Creighton after seeing a promising start as a freshman at Michigan two years ago sidetracked last season by health issues caused by sleep apnea.

“It was a really hard decision for me,” said Doyle, who has grown almost an inch, to about 6-10. “After all my visits I felt like, ‘All right I’m going there.’ Next visit, ‘All right I’m going there.’ Every school had a quality I really liked. But playing for your home team is something really hard to turn down.”

Mobile: Follow Seth Soffian's live coverage

Doyle, close friends with an array of FGCU players and an offseason workout partner and pickup player with the Eagles, will have to sit out the 2016-17 season under NCAA transfer rules.

But he’ll have two seasons of eligibility remaining, and he hopes to expand on the success FGCU had last season in getting back to the NCAA tournament for the second time in program history.

“I feel like we can do something special here,” said Doyle, one of the biggest basketball recruits to come out of Southwest Florida.

“It’s going to be tough sitting out a year. But I know it’s going to be important for me to develop my game. Practices are going to be my games. I’m going to bring everything I can to make the team better and make myself better so when that next year comes I’ll be ready.”

Colleges cannot comment on recruits until their paperwork is received, but Doyle informed FGCU coach Joe Dooley of his decision Tuesday with the media present at the suggestion of others.

“That’s big-time, big fella,” Dooley told Doyle on speaker phone. “We are so excited. This is great for our program, really great for our program. Southwest Florida is happy, not just FGCU. We’re glad to have you home. We appreciate you coming and look forward to working with you and your family. We really do.”

Michigan's Ricky Doyle to FGCU seems like a good bet

Doyle, a three-star recruit at the time he committed to Michigan in March of his junior year at Verot, played in 31 games with 19 starts as a freshman for the Wolverines. He averaged 18.2 minutes, 6.1 points and 3.2 rebounds a game as Michigan went 16-16.

Doyle, who won a Michigan academic achievement award after his freshman season, had almost as many offensive rebounds as defensive and shot 61 percent from the field. That included a 6-for-6 showing in the Big Ten Tournament against Wisconsin and Big Ten Player of the Year Frank Kaminsky.

But struggling with what wasn’t diagnosed as sleep apnea until late in his sophomore season, Doyle’s production plummeted. He played in 36 games as a sophomore and shot 64 percent but started only 11 games and averaged just 12.2 minutes, 3.8 points and 2.0 rebounds as the Wolverines went 23-13.

“I couldn’t really play my game,” Doyle said, agreeing his struggles had more to do with severe fatigue than a lack of ideal fit in Michigan’s system.

“I feel like I really let myself down my sophomore year, and I feel like I let the team down. It was really hard for me to fight through that until the end of the season to figure out what was going on. (By then) it was just time for me to move on.”

FGCU basketball: 6-11 center Patson Siame leaving team

Doyle dropped to third on the Michigan depth chart by season’s end and faced two interior recruits arriving next season. Still, he left Michigan in high regard with Wolverines coach John Beilein.

“I really loved Michigan,” Doyle said. “They taught me a lot. They helped me expand my game a lot. I thank all the coaches up there, strength coaches, and my teammates up there. They really helped me a lot in my game. School-wise I did great up there.”

Operating for months on what doctors told him was the equivalent of only about two hours of sleep per night because he was waking up as many as seven times every hour, Doyle said his health and game are on the rapid rebound with the benefit of nighttime breathing apparatus.

“I feel great,” said Doyle, who has gone from a nose piece to a mask. “Now I look like Bane from Batman. I’ve been sleeping with the thing. It’s been taking some getting used to. It’s going well. I even grew a little bit with the mask on. I feel good.”

At FGCU, Doyle will provide a formidable practice squad opponent this season for the returning frontcourt of rising redshirt seniors Marc-Eddy Norelia and Demetris Morant and redshirt junior Antravious Simmons – all former D-I transfers.

Once the 6-8 Norelia and 6-9 Morant depart after next season, the 6-9, 250-pound Simmons and Doyle – who plays at 250 pounds and whose wingspan has grown an inch, to 7-3 – will provide considerable bulk for FGCU’s hard-nosed approach.

“I feel like I fit in great. They run a high-lo. They play a lot of big-man style game,” said Doyle, hoping to re-establish himself as a skilled big man rather than just inside banger.

“I feel like I’ll be contributing a lot to the team. I feel like I can show a lot more of my game. (FGCU) will really help my game elevate to the next level doing a lot of stuff that I did in high school really. I have aspirations to play in the NBA. It’s my ultimate goal. I feel like FGCU will help me achieve that goal.”

Doyle’s father, Richard Doyle, played 11 seasons in France after being drafted by Detroit in 1984. Richard Doyle, selected in the fifth of what was then 12 rounds in the NBA draft, said he was offered a two-year contract by Detroit but played overseas for better money.

FGCU's Marc-Eddy Norelia not picked for NBA draft combine

Ricky Doyle, named to the Class 4A all-state first team by the Florida Association of Basketball Coaches as a Bishop Verot sophomore in 2012 and senior in 2014, met other familiar faces in his second recruitment.

USC is coached by Andy Enfield, who was the FGCU coach when the program in 2012-13 became the only No. 15 seed in NCAA tournament history to reach the Sweet 16.

New UCF coach Johnny Dawkins, the former Duke and NBA point guard who was fired in March after eight seasons at Stanford, has hired former FGCU assistants Kevin Norris and Jamill Jones for his staff.

Dawkins’ son Aubrey, a sophomore teammate of Doyle’s last season at Michigan, also has transferred to play for his father for the Knights. Dawkins recruited Doyle in high school for Stanford.

And Creighton, while less familiar, is coached by Greg McDermott, lauded for helping son Doug McDermott became the national scoring leader for the Blue Jays in 2013-14 and go on to be selected with the 11th pick in the 2014 NBA draft and play for Chicago.

“Choosing what league to play in was definitely a difficult one for me,” said Doyle, pointing to an FGCU schedule, particularly in non-conference play, that he called tougher than perceived for the relatively lower tier Atlantic Sun Conference.

“They go on the road a lot, and they play a lot of high-level teams. My biggest thing is I want to make it to the NCAA tournament. I feel like that’s where the bread and butter is. Hopefully we can redo what Dunk City did and maybe even further.”

Why mighty March meant so much to FGCU basketball

An opportunity for considerable playing time was a factor, although Doyle’s not taking that for granted.

“I’ll have to work for those minutes,” he said.

An array of close relationships also meant a lot, he said.

“Coach Dooley was always a guy who was so easy to talk to,” Doyle said. “He’s a head coach, but I felt like I could talk to him one on one as a person, as a friend really. All the coaches I’ve been talking to I felt like I had that relationship (with). But Dooley kind of took that a step beyond. I could open up and be myself around him.”

Dooley has a deal to stay at FGCU

FGCU has had local players on its roster before. The most prominent also are from Bishop Verot.

Guard Reed Baker, The News-Press All-Area Player of the Year in 2005 and 2006, transferred from Michigan, coincidentally, after his freshman season to play for FGCU from 2008-2011.

And forward Eddie Murray was a five-year team member and senior on the famed 2012-13 Dunk City squad.

But Doyle is easily the highest-regarded local recruit to play for the program.

It’s a position that comes with pride and, he knows, expectations.

FGCU could be a great spot for Fort Myers native Doyle

“It’s probably going to be a lot of pressure, a lot of expectations,” he said. “I’ll do whatever I can to do the best I can to make the school successful. I know the coaches will push me as hard as I can (go), and I’ll push myself. Expectations for me to do great is also going to push me, because I don’t want to let my city down.”

Follow@NewsPressSeth on Twitter formore FGCU coverage.