Two guards sign with Lobo basketball for Class of 2025

On Wednesday, UNM officially welcomed Seattle’s Jaylen Petty and Issac Williamson of Eastvale, California as the first Class of 2025 recruits to sign scholarship papers.

Each guard had announced their verbal commitments to play for the Lobos in mid September shortly after making their official recruiting visits to Albuquerque.

Wednesday was the first day high school seniors were allowed to sign college scholarship papers.

College coaches aren’t allowed to publicly comment about prospective recruits until they sign.

UNM’s Richard Pitino didn’t comment Wednesday on his two new signees, but did post on social media, “Lobo Basketball got better today. The future is bright!” Pitino and the team are expected to put out a formal announcement on Thursday.

Petty is a 6-foot guard, rated a four-star recruit by 247 Sports, and ranked the No. 1 prep player in Washington. He plays for Rainier Beach High School in Seattle and turned down scholarship offers from Washington, Oklahoma, Stanford, UNLV and others.

“He’s got some David against Goliath to him,” his father, Jerry Petty, told the Journal in September. “He’s from Seattle and he’s considered the next up-and-coming guard from here. He’s the next Nate (Robinson, the 5-foot-9 former NBA guard who also attended Rainier Beach High School). He’s the next IT (Isaiah Thomas, a 5-9 former NBA guard from Tacoma, Washington). He’s carrying that torch. And he’s gonna make those guys proud.”

Williamson is 6-1, 190-pound combo guard from the Inland Empire region of California that has treated the Lobos program well through the years. He’s a respected high-level defender.

“Issac Williamson is one of the top two-way players in the class of 2025 and probably one of the most under-appreciated guards in the whole country,” Etop Udo-Ema, co-founder and CEO of Compton Magic, Williamson’s AAU program, told the Journal in September.

The Lobos have a strong guard class this year. In fact, the guards signed by the Lobos in each of the past three seasons put on a show in Tuesday night’s 100-81 Lobos win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

Donovan Dent, class of 2022, had 25 points, 10 assists.

Tru Washington, class of 2023, had 15 points and two steals.

Kayde Dotson, class of 2024, had 18 points and hit three 3-pointers.