Huskies land 4-star guard Floyd Jr.

The UConn men got their next recruiting cycle off to a good, early start, landing guard Corey Floyd, a four-star prospect from Roselle Catholic in New Jersey.

Floyd, who had eight schools on his final list, announced via social media Thursday night, posting a video on Twitter to say he chose UConn.

“It’s a great feeling,” Floyd told Zach Schumaker for his YouTube channel. “It’s a great program. I’m just excited to be a part of it and get things going.”

UConn’s diligent recruiting style paid off again here.

“They were my second offer ever,” said Floyd, who celebrated his 17th birthday on Thursday. “At the time I wasn’t big on them, they just built a real great connection with me. Always in contact, more than just basketball, we’d talk about. I felt it was the best decision for me, and the best fit overall.”

At 6 feet 4, Floyd fits Dan Hurley’s UConn mold as a featured scorer, a baton that could pass from James Bouknight to Andre Jackson to Floyd down the road. Bouknight, a sophomore, is expected to move on to the pros after this season.

“UConn’s getting a great kid,” said Dave Boff, Roselle Catholic’s head coach. “Mature. Very hard worker, very coachable, great teammate. They’re getting all those great attributes. He’s a really, really good student, a mature, conscientious kid in the classroom.”

Floyd is a consensus four-star recruit, close to breaking the top 100 of his class, top 20 at his position as he is just beginning his junior season at Roselle Catholic, south of Newark and Elizabeth, N.J.

“He’s a very strong, athletic guard,” Boff said. “He has a very high skill set to go with that, so you really have the three key components to being able to play at the highest level — a high skill set, strong and athletic. You put those three things together, you really have something special.”

Floyd also plays for Team Final in the AAU circuit. Hurley and his staff have worked the New England-to-Washington, D.C., corridor hard in his three seasons at UConn, and especially his home state, New Jersey. Current Huskies Jalen Gaffney, Adama Sanogo and R.J. Cole played their high school ball in New Jersey, as did incoming Class of ‘21 recruit Samson Johnson.

UConn coaches cannot comment on recruits until they sign a national letter of intent, which would be at least 10 months away for Floyd, whose list of finalists also included Rutgers, Providence, Florida, Auburn, Wake Forest, Miami and Villanova.

Coaches are not allowed to comment on recruits, but Hurley, characteristically, made his excitement known, posting a video of himself, with his wife, Andrea, just as Floyd was committing. Hurley was reading his phone, then yelled “Let’s go! Second huge win of the week.” Then he kept his word to drink hot sauce, part of the viral campaign to raise money for the Husky Ticket Challenge.

UConn, 7-1, 4-1 in Big East play, cracked the AP Top 25 this week, but lost Bouknight indefinitely to an elbow injury.