After shaking hands and kissing babies when he was hired by Providence College last April, Keno Davis quickly realized what his first responsibility would be: start recruiting.

A coach coming into a new job is always running a few steps behind and nowhere is that more pronounced these days than in recruiting. Many of the elite prospects have chosen their school before they play a game as a junior.

The vast majority of the top 200 prospects have certainly been on numerous campuses to see games, visit with coaching staffs and get a feel for their next move sometime during their junior year.

So when Davis inherited a roster that was top-heavy with five seniors-to-be, he knew he was way behind on the recruiting front. Hiring the right assistant coaches, preferably ones already connected to prospects, is vital. That’s why he brought two assistants with him from Drake — Chris Davis and Rodell Davis (no relation), and also grabbed Pat Skerry away from URI to strengthen his contacts here in the East.

“Having seven scholarships to fill makes it a busy time to say the least,” Davis said. “The recruiting class is a demand. I couldn’t be more pleased with my staff. They work like crazy and that’s why I know they’ll all be head coaches one day. We have a couple of important spots to fill, yet but I’m confident we’re going to do that. We’re on the right track.”

Over the course of the spring and summer, PC’s new staff hit the high schools and the AAU circuit and offered something kids like to hear: potential instant playing time in the Big East. That’s clearly one of the main reasons Davis was able to announce the signing of four players a few days ago.

The Friars signed four players, two forwards — Kadeem Batts, a 6-foot-7 forward from outside Atlanta, and 6-9 James Still of Detroit — and two wing players in 6-6 Kyle Wright and 6-3 Duke Mondy of Grand Rapids, Mich.

“All four have incredible upside,” said Davis. “They can be really good players at Providence. They may not be the highest-rated kids but they’ll be in the gym all the time, want to be good players and will work hard academically.”

Davis says that Batts, who is originally from the Boston area, enjoyed a big growth spurt a few years back “and retained his ball skills. He’s a big, strong kid who can put the ball on the floor and will be a good shooter.”

He calls Mondy, “a winner and a good guard, either spot.”

Wright, a Hartford native, spent his freshman year at Stony Brook and then transferred to Colorado. After sitting out last year, he left Boulder and is now at Monroe Junior College in the Bronx. “Kyle’s a unique situation having spent time at two four-year schools but he’s a strong student and just has an ability to shoot the ball. If you can shoot, you can play.”

The one addition who may stand out the most is Still. Chris Davis owns deep Michigan ties and that paid off in a 6-9, 210-pounder who may be the top big man in Detroit. “We had five kids from Michigan on our team at Drake so we identified James Still a few years ago. He’s a player with a great motor who can run. When I saw him, I said we’re definitely recruiting this kid.”

PC needs more recruits to fill up the program and Davis says kids are listening to his staff’s sales pitch.

“The tough thing in really getting your program to another level is they (prospects) have to see it. They don’t necessarily have to see the wins but they have to see what you’re about. What the style is, how you go about things on the floor,” he said. “With basketball being the show here at Providence, we have to get kids to our games. At other schools they might see football and that bigtime atmosphere. Our bigtime atmosphere is for basketball so we have to get the sophomores and juniors here to see our games.”

Full-court press for talent

A fifth recruit who verbally committed to PC is Antoine Allen, a guard from Baltimore. Allen is not expected to sign with PC before the period ends on Wednesday but that seems to only be due to academic concerns.

“He’s more than committed to Providence,” said Ryan Hurd, Allen’s coach at Notre Dame Prep in Fitchburg, Mass. “He has some work to take care of here but he’s doing better and is looking forward to the opportunity at Providence.”

Hurd said that PC is pushing hard for another of his guards. The Friars are shopping for a pure point guard and like 5-10 Johnnie Lacy, a Milwaukee native.

“With Johnnie and Antoine, we are basically un-pressable,” Hurd said.

PC and Tennessee may be the two leaders for Lacy.

PC is also deep in the hunt for Chris Colvin, a Chicago point guard who will pick a school on Wednesday. Iowa State and Illinois are the other top contenders.

Bigtime showcase

Notre Dame Prep, St. Andrew’s of Barrington and Massachusetts powers St. Mark’s (with locals Erik and Alex Murphy) and Northfield Mt.-Hermon (Mike Marra, Donnie Brown) will be in action in the National Prep Showcase next weekend at Bryant University. Check newenglandrecruitingreport.com for the schedule.

As expected, Murphy signed with Florida and Marra signed with Louisville a few days ago. Rick Pitino is thrilled to get Marra. He called the Smithfield native “the best high school shooter I have ever seen in my life. I know that’s quite a statement,” Pitino told the Louisville Courier-Journal.

Bulldogs are on the run

Bryant coach Tim O’Shea and his staff are off and running on the recruiting trail. Bryant announced the signing of guards Erick Smith and Raphael Jordan, teammates at John Carroll School in Bel Air, Md., as well as 7-foot Alex Herzing (Lynchburg, Va.) and 6-8 Vladyslav Kondratyev (Gainesville, Fla.). O’Shea said he sees instant playing time available for each of the recruits.

“We are very excited about our first recruiting class here at Bryant,” said O’Shea. “We made it a priority to upgrade our overall size and athleticism with this class, our first at the Division I level. We feel that these four young men allow us to become a more versatile team right away and that they will be a huge part of our building process.”

kmcnamar@projo.com