Coach Saul Phillips recently announced the addition of Chandler Thomas to the Ohio basketball recruiting class.

Thomas, a 6-6 power forward, is a transfer from Grambling State who has graduated and thus is eligible to play right away this upcoming season. He began his basketball career at UMBC and has two seasons of eligibility remaining, having played just one year at each of the two schools.

This past season for the Tigers, Thomas averaged 8.0 points and 5.9 rebounds in 22.8 minutes per game. He played both as a starter and off the bench and shot 45.0 percent from the field, including 10 of 27 (37 percent) from 3-point range, and 58.9 percent at the foul line.

As a freshman for the Terriers, he put up averages of 6.0 points and 3.4 rebounds in 17.4 minutes per game, shooting 46.4 percent from the field and 65.5 percent from the line.

An Indianapolis, Ind., native, Thomas graduated after just three years of college and will attend graduate school at Ohio and is expected to come off the bench for the Bobcats, Phillips said.

Thomas provides depth on a roster that became thin when three recruits were granted their release from their letters of intent after Jim Christian resigned at Ohio to become coach at Boston College. That left Ohio with only eight scholarship players, but it now has 12 of 13 scholarships filled and 11 players are eligible to play during the 2014-15 season.

The move also gives the team a second player to join Treg Setty in the class of 2016 and will leave the Bobcats with four open scholarships next recruiting season.

Previously, Ohio added freshman wings Mike Laster and Ryan Taylor and Houston point guard transfer Jaaron Simmons. Shooting guard Kendall Crute was the only Christian recruit who remained with the Bobcats after the coaching change.

Laster, a 6-5 shooting guard from Detroit Cass Tech, had offers from Buffalo, Bowling Green, SIU-Edwardsville and Florida A&M. He averaged 15 points and seven rebounds per game as a senior to help his team reach the regional final.

“The biggest draw with Mike is his upside,” Phillips said in a recent press release. “Athletically with his length, it’s clear his best basketball is still in front of him.”

Taylor, a 6-6 shooting guard from Michigan City, Ind., completed a year of prep school at St. John’s Northwestern Military Academy in Dearfield, Wis., and averaged 23 points, six rebounds and three assists per game. As a senior for Michigan City high School, he averaged 14 points, three rebounds and two assists per game.

“Taylor’s a kid we’ve recruited for a long time and we’ve built a relationship with over the years,” Phillips said. “He’s a 6-foot, 6-inch shooting guard that can still grow. We feel he got overlooked in the recruiting process in a big way.”

According to Phillips, injuries were part of the reason Taylor was overlooked, but he proved himself in prep school. Taylor reportedly was holding out for an offer from Michigan that never came. He previously had an offer from Phillips at North Dakota State.

Phillips also secured a commitment from Simmons, who will have to sit out this season but will provide an experienced option to start at point guard after Stevie Taylor and Javarez Willis graduate this year.

A 6-2 native of Kettering, he originally was recruited by the Bobcats as a three-star player out of Alter High School. Besides Houston and Ohio, schools to offer Simmons during his original recruiting process included Central Michigan, Dayton, Kent State, Western Michigan and Wichita State.

Simmons played in all but one game as a freshman this past season for the Cougars and averaged 2.0 points and 1.2 assists in 11.0 minutes per game. He shot 33.9 percent from the field, making just 1 of 8 3-pointers, and was a 70.6 percent free throw shooter. He will have three years of eligibility remaining.

Crute, a 6-4 shooting guard from Marietta, Ga., picked Ohio over Kennesaw State, Georgia State, UAB, the College of Charleston, Murray State, Louisiana Tech and Southern Miss.

Former Ohio signees Tariq Owens, Nehemias Morillo-Lajara and Roddell Wigginton were granted releases from their letters of intent after Phillips was hired. Owens, a 6-9 forward ranked as a top-100 recruit, committed to Tennessee. Morillo-Lajara and Wiggington, both junior college wings, chose South Florida and Buffalo, respectively.

Ohio also lost shooting guard D.J. Wingfield, a freshman who redshirted this past season, due to medical disqualification and graduated guards Nick Kellogg and Travis Wilkins and forwards Jon Smith, T.J. Hall and Ricardo Johnson.

The Bobcats will have no players with college experience at the wing position this year with only Ryan Taylor, Crute, Laster and redshirt freshman Khari Harley at the shooting guard and small forward positions, though Willis could see some time at shooting guard.

The team is more experienced in the frontcourt with senior Maurice Ndour, juniors Setty and Thomas and sophomores Antonio Campbell and Wadley Mompremier.