Tall shooting guard, a native of Memphis, signs with men's squad

Southeast Missouri State men's basketball coach Dickey Nutt sees Antonius Cleveland as a classic late bloomer whose best days figure to be ahead of him.

That's why Nutt was excited Wednesday after the Redhawks landed the high school shooting guard on the opening day of the NCAA's spring signing period.

Cleveland, a 6-foot-5, 175-pound native of Memphis, Tenn., averaged 18 points, five rebounds and five assists per game this past season at Faith Baptist, a prep school in Atlanta, Ga.

"I'm very excited that Antonius is joining our program," Nutt said. "He's long, he's rangy and very athletic. He can put the ball in the basket, which is something we really need. He can separate himself from a defender.

"And what I really like, he's a good student and a special young man."

Two years ago, Cleveland was a 5-8 substitute at Overton High School in Memphis.

Cleveland grew to 6-2 the following summer, transferred to Germantown High School in the Memphis area and averaged 12.5 points per game as a senior in 2011-2012.

Still, Cleveland's only scholarship offer was from Motlow State Junior College. He instead went to Faith Baptist, grew some more and suddenly began attracting Division I attention.

"We've known him for a while but he's always been really little. We look up, all of a sudden he's 6-2 and now he's 6-5," Nutt said. "Time will tell how much he develops, but if he develops like he has the last 18 months I think he'll be somebody to reckon with. I think the future is really ahead of him."

Cleveland said he is as excited about joining the Redhawks as Nutt is about landing him.

"When I went on my visit, I just liked everything about it," Cleveland said. "And my in-home visit when coach Rosser and coach Nutt came, it made me feel like I needed to be there. I've known coach Rosser since I was a freshman."

Southeast assistant Jamie Rosser is a Memphis native who coached high school basketball in the city. Cleveland said he is also familiar with current Southeast players and Memphis natives Tyler Stone, Nino Johnson and A.J. Jones.

"I know all of them," he said.

Cleveland said he never lacked for confidence, even when he was too small to draw recruiting interest.

"When I was about 5-8, I still had a little confidence in me," he said. "I actually didn't really see it [the growth spurt] happening, then it just happened so fast, it did kind of shock me a little bit."

Cleveland, who said he also seriously considered Jacksonville University, said a big priority for him will be to gain weight and strength.

Nutt said the Redhawks will likely sign another player or two during the month-long spring signing period.

Southeast signed two players in November during the NCAA's early signing period: Martavian Payne, a 6-2 senior combo guard at Madison Prep High School in St. Louis; and 6-5 wing Darrian Gray from Lake Land (Ill.) Community College who is also a Memphis native.

But it's a virtual certainty that Payne won't play for the Redhawks next season due to academic issues. He recently signed with John A. Logan, a junior college in Carterville, Ill.

Tolbert signs with SWIC

It looks like Southeast will also be without the services of Notre Dame Regional High School graduate Jacob Tolbert, who recently signed with Southwestern Illinois College, a junior college in Belleville, Ill.

Tolbert saw limited action for the Redhawks this past season as a walk-on redshirt freshman forward, averaging 0.4 points and 1.8 rebounds while playing an average of 6.6 minutes off the bench.