DAYTON -- University of Dayton men's basketball coach Anthony Grant has announced that Rodney Chatman III, a 6-foot-1, 175-pound guard from Atlanta suburb Lithonia, Ga., will transfer to UD from the University of Tennessee Chattanooga.  Chatman will redshirt the 2018-19 season due to NCAA transfer restrictions and then have two years of eligibility for the Flyers.
 

"We're excited to announce the addition of Rodney Chatman III to our roster," Grant said. "Rodney brings experience, skill, and high basketball IQ to our backcourt for the future. He will greatly benefit from a year of learning our system while continuing to mature his body and skill set during his redshirt season. Our team will benefit from having him in practice on a daily basis as we continue to build our culture and the competitive character of our group in preparation for the upcoming season."

Chatman averaged 13.3 points, 4.4 rebounds and 4.5 assists while playing 32.3 minutes a game last season as a sophomore at Chattanooga. He shot .339 (43 of 127) from three-point range and .782 (93 of 119) from the free line.  He started at point guard for the Mocs in all 29 games he played in during the 2017-18 season.    He led the team in assists and was third in scoring. 

He was fourth in the Southern Conference in assists, fifth in FT%, 12th in scoring and, surprisingly for a point guard, 12th in defensive rebounds (3.8).

As a freshman, he played in 31 games, starting three.  He averaged 20.1 minutes, 5.3 points, 2.2 assists and 2.1 rebounds per game. Chatman played that season for Matt McCall, who is now the coach at fellow Atlantic 10 Conference member Massachusetts.

As a senior at Lithonia High School, Chatman averaged 13.3 points, 6.2 assists and 4.1 steals per contest.  He led Lithonia to a 26-5 record as a senior, including 17-1 in league play.  He was Georgia Class 4A All-State mention as both a junior and senior.

While he is no relation to current University of Dayton Executive Director of Public Safety and Chief of Police Rodney Chatman, the new Flyer recruit is related to another Rodney Chatman.  His father, Rodney Chatman Jr., played at Southern Cal from 1989-1993 and averaged 12.0 points per game as a senior. He was a two-time captain and team MVP for the Trojans. 

Chatman is the fifth member, and second Division I transfer, of the Dayton 2018-19 recruiting class.  Michigan transfer Ibi Watson and Chatman will both sit out the 2018-19 season and then have two seasons of eligibility for the Flyers.  Interestingly, both Chatman and Watson only needed one visit – to the University of Dayton campus – before picking the Flyers as the program they would transfer to.

The other three members of the recruiting class are Dwayne Cohill and Jhery Matos, and Frankie Policelli.  Cohill scored over 2,000 points for Holy Name High School in Cleveland and was named First Team Division II All-Ohio.  He signed in the fall.  Matos signed this spring, and was a junior college All-American for Monroe College in the Bronx.  Policelli was All-New York for Long Island Lutheran High School, and also signed in April.