Gemil Holbrook to enroll at Philly U

Roman grad Gemil Holbrook (above) will bring his sharpshooting abilities to Philly U next semester. (Photo: Mark Jordan/CoBL)

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Roman Catholic graduate Gemil Holbrook, who briefly began his college career at Rider, will enroll at Philadelphia University for the spring semester, he confirmed.

Holbrook's presence on the roster will be a big boost to a Philly U squad that, due to injuries and the removal of senior Derek Johnson from the team in the preseason, has left head coach Herb Magee with just nine healthy players.

A graduate of Roman Catholic after helping the Cahillites to the 2015 Catholic League and PIAA Class AAAA championships, Holbrook originally signed with Rider.

But after spending the summer workouts with the program, he and the team parted ways at the beginning of the fall.

"Coming in as a freshman it was a hard learning process," he said. "The pace was faster, so I fell behind a little, and I guess (head coach Kevin Baggett) saw something else and said it's best if we just part ways after after two months."

He won't be the only D-I transfer on the roster: starting center Peter Alexis began his college career at Penn State, and fellow wing Brendan Kilpatrick came by way of Vermont.

Though he's got a muscular frame and is a good rebounder, Holbrook's somewhat one-dimensional offensive skill-set would have limited him at the Division I level, but he should be able to make an impact right away in the CACC with his impressive range and size, combined with his ability to play either the '2' or the '3' or even an undersized '4' in Magee's system.

Whether or not the 6-foot-5 wing sees the court right away is another matter entirely: Magee is notorious for using only a 5- or 6-man rotation, with all of his starters getting as close to 40 minutes as possible aside from foul issues.

But it seems likely he'll earn some minutes, especially if if the Rams continue to struggle from the 3-point arc, where they're at just 30.9 percent on the year. Against Holy Family on Thursday night, Philly U was just 3-of-16 from 3-point range, and 3-point shooting is Holbrook's speciality.

"It's a better spot for me because I'm going to get playing time and they need a shooter," he said. "And I liked the coaching staff, I think we could make a good playoff run with the group guys we have."