Through transfers, Weber State signed four incoming juniors: point guard Tijan Saine from Western Washington, combo guard Jace Whiting from UNLV, forward Edwin Suarez of Arizona Western College, and post player Malek Gomma from Seattle U.

The Wildcats also added point guard ArDarius Grayson from Oakland Tech during the regular period for signing 2025 high school graduates.

As honors go: Saine was rated the sixth-best Division II transfer in the country, with a four-star rating, by The Portal Report. Suarez was league MVP in Arizona’s junior college conference, and a third-team JUCO All-American. Grayson was named Bay Area News Group’s boys basketball player of the year.

What follows are answers and analysis Duft gave for the below topics, edited for length and clarity.

On the class and recruiting focus

“I wanted to find highly competitive, tough, high-energy players who are hungry to be at Weber State to win, to produce.

“We were looking for a certain profile for these guys, from a competitive standpoint, toughness standpoint, more than anything else. And I think all of those guys fit that to a ‘T’. We knew we needed four transfers that could come in, produce, be physical, be competitive, and I think we found that with these guys.

“You’ve gotta be a physical team if you’re going to win, especially in conference. So, I think we’ve addressed that with these guys. …

“We had to get more athletic. We’re going to be a lot more athletic next year. We have to make more plays just naturally — sometimes you’ve got to go steal the ball, you gotta get a rebound, get a putback, get a tip dunk. You gotta get some of that stuff, that’s basketball. I think we’ll have more guys who can make more plays off script; a tough, competitive group.”

Tijan Saine

“Tijan is a true point guard, highly productive in Division II. We had to beat a lot of schools to get him. He is high-energy, competitive, tough, earned his way. Had to walk on at Division II his first year as a redshirt and just fight it out, and he’s really hungry. Very similar to Blaise’s (Threatt) story, but Tijan’s a much different player. He’s small, he’s quick, he can really shoot it, he’s a true point guard. He gets the ball out of his hands. Almost a 50/40/90 guy.

“A guy that his personality just infects everybody on the team. Electric personality. Trevor Hennig has four or five guys that play on (Western Washington) that he knows, and they all just raved about how good a leader he is, his energy. So really excited about him, his talent and what he’s going to provide.”

Jace Whiting

“Somewhat of a local guy … and he is as tough and competitive as they come. He’s big, he’s strong. He was productive at Boise State for two years, was going to, I think, have a good year at UNLV, had the injury, sat out. But both programs just raved about him.

“He’s exactly what we’re looking for from a toughness, competitive standpoint. Can really shoot it. He’s gonna play. He’s gonna bring great energy and passion. We’re definitely excited about him.”

Malek Gomma

“Once he got in the portal, we got on him right away. This was always a school that he wanted to be at. He and Trevor Hennig grew up in the same AAU organization, knew each other; as soon as Trevor heard he was going in the portal, he came to us and said, ‘this is the guy we need.’

He’s a physical specimen, plays really, really hard; there are tough, competitive guys in the West Coast Conference who said that he can really impact winning, he was just behind an older big his first couple years. But he’s gonna bring great passion, he’s explosive, competitive, tough. Just everything we’re looking for. Great personality, graduated from Seattle in two years. He’s smart, high-character, tough guy who can really rebound. We didn’t rebound the ball very well last year. … He rebounds it at a high level on both ends. He can play above the rim, score with his back to the basket.”

Edwin Suarez

“He has some similarities to Dillon (Jones). I don’t want to fully make that comparison, but the way he plays the game is similar, at least. He’s a big-bodied four-man who can face the basket, he can handle it, he can drive it. Dillon’s one of his favorite players. But Edwin needs to come in and be Edwin. He’s a tremendously good offensive rebounder, good defensive rebounder. Third-team JUCO All-American, produced at a high level on a good team. He’s really tough, really competitive, and I think he gives us that physical four-man that we’re looking for.

“He gives us that ability to drive it from the four, make plays from the four. He’s a good passer. We can get him in the post and he can score in there, pass it out of there. … I think he gives us a lot of versatility.

“We have David Hansen, who redshirted last year, who gives us that skilled, long, shooting four-man, and now Edwin comes in. Those two guys can play together some, but Edwin gives us that physical presence, that body that we needed.”

ArDarius Grayson

“He’s a little baller. Not very big, but he’s a guy that Dame told us about a while back and says, hey, we need him. … And he and (Davion) Berry had the same thoughts on (Grayson), those Oakland guys, that he’s like Will Cherry who played at Montana. He’s a tough, competitive dude, and he is a little hooper. He’s not going to be afraid.

“He is about it. He’s a true point guard and he’s going to bring a great mentality, great personality to our team. We can play Jace at the point and at the two. But with Tijan and ArDarius, you’ve got two true point guards and then Jace can give us that element if ArDarius needs some time

“But he’s athletic, he’s tough and he’s competitive. I’m excited about our point guards because we’re going to have true point guard play, we’re gonna get the ball off their hands, make their teammates better. And, I think they’re going to bring just that toughness guarding the ball. They’re not very big, but they’re tough.”

Returners

“Other than Nigel (Burris), they were all really young players and the No. 1 thing we focused on this spring was in the weight room. Declan (Cutler) has put on over 10 pounds in the spring. Trevor (Hennig) over 10 pounds in the spring. Viljami (Vartiainen) is now, I think last time we weighed in, 203, he’s put on 10-plus pounds in the springtime, and this was just in about five or six weeks. David (Hansen) has put on, I think, 23 pounds since he got here. … They’re good players. They just need to be more physical. This year is going to be big for them in the weight room, and they attacked it. This summer, it’s going to be more of the same.

“All those guys are made of the right things. They’re competitive. They’re tough. They’re about Weber State. They’re about winning. They’ve just got to get bigger, stronger, more experienced. I think we had a really good spring with those guys.”