The first live recruiting period of April begins on Friday and the Providence coaching staff is gearing up for the beginning of the offseason recruiting grind by doing an in-home visit with Top-100 2018 guard Noah Locke on Thursday afternoon, a source told pcbb1917.com. Locke was ranked 95th in the class of 2018 in the latest Rivals.com rankings update out on Tuesday. He will run with Team Melo on the Nike EYBL grassroots circuit. The Friars have made it clear to Locke that he is a priority recruit for them in the class of 2018 and this in-home visit right before the beginning of the first live period cements that.

Providence certainly has plenty of options in their backyard in the class of 2018, but assistants Jeff Battle and Ivan Thomas have deep ties in the Mid-Atlantic. Thomas has been the lead assistant recruiting Locke who attends McDonogh HS in Owings Mills, MD. Locke was at Providence’s Elite Camp in June and the Friars extended an offer while the 6’2 guard was on campus. He also attended Providence’s game at Georgetown in mid-January.

Locke recently told Corey Evans of Rivals.com “I really like [Providence]. I like their coaching staff. They stay in contact with me. They really make it known that they want me to come there. They seemed like a family when I went on a visit.”

Providence currently has one open scholarship for next season and five available spots for the 2018-19 season, which is when players like Locke would be entering college. Keep an eye out for my recruiting guide for the first April live period that will be out later in the week with a bevy of Providence targets across the classes of 2018 and 2019 who will be in action this weekend. I’ll also have more information on where Providence’s assistant coaches will be and who they will be watching. To hear that information first, consider pledging over at Patreon.com to get access to a private recruiting Slack channel.

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