Aiden, a 6-foot-7 guard who now attends the SPIRE Academy in Geneva, Ohio, committed to Dayton on Sunday, one day after his brother’s team won 80-61 at North Carolina Wilmington to extend its season in the National Invitation Tournament.
“Dayton is getting a super high energy guy,” Rodriguez said. “He plays really unselfishly. He’ll always be the guy that people identify as having a high motor and being the hardest working player out there. I think that’s something that’s going to jump out at everybody.”
Aiden set Colonia’s scoring record with 1,739 points in three seasons. He averaged 24.7 points, 8.1 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.8 steals as a junior.
By comparison, Jordan averaged 13.6 points, 7.0 rebounds, 4.8 assists, and 2.0 steals as a senior at Colonia in the 2020-21 season. Jordan spent a postgraduate season at SPIRE before starting his college career at Merrimack.
Rodriguez has coached Colonia for eight seasons and has known Aiden since he was in sixth grade. He started monitoring Aiden closely during his eighth grade season to get a feel for how the high school coaches could help him develop his game.
Rodriguez knew Aiden would be an “impact player” right away, and he was right. Aiden started as a freshman.
“As far as his game is concerned, he’s very versatile,” Rodriguez said. “I think that as he continues to develop, he’s probably going to be able to do a little bit of everything. He can be a point guard or small forward type, for sure, and he can guard multiple positions. He’s very capable of guarding on the perimeter from probably one through four — maybe one through three. I’m excited. They’re definitely getting a guy that’s got a tremendous work ethic."
At SPIRE this season, Aiden averaged 10.9 points, 4.9 rebounds and 3.0 assists. He played on a team that included two top-100 recruits in the 2026 class: No. 40 Tarris Bouie, an Alabama recruit; and No. 52 Alex Constanza, a Georgia recruit. Aiden signed with Providence but reopened his recruitment when the school fired coach Kim English.
SPIRE coach Kevin Boyle talked to Adam Zagoria, of ZagsBlog.com, about Aiden.
“Aiden is a very complete player,” Boyle said. “He has really improved his shot and ability to attack closeouts. He makes plays at the rim. He will be an excellent college player.”
Rodriguez watched Aiden play when he could, though he was busy with his own team.
“It seemed like his development went well overall,” Rodriguez said, “in terms of the areas that he needed to develop. That was going to be the focus, no matter where he was. I think he’s definitely much improved and prepared for this next stop now.”
Even without Aiden, Colonia won its fifth straight conference title and its sixth sectional championship in Rodriguez’s tenure. It reached the Group 3 state final in New Jersey for the first time before losing to Ocean City.
Rodriguez watched Dayton when he could this season because of Jordan, who ranks fourth on the team with 9.2 rebounds per game. Rodriguez said last spring Jordan was a good fit for Dayton, and he said the same thing about Aiden.
“I think it’s a good fit in terms of not just style of play,” Rodriguez said, “but I think also there’s some similarities with the culture in terms of where he’s from and the type of connections that people have here at Colonia. It’s obviously a big school, but not Kentucky-big. It’s almost the same kind of feel. I think coach Grant does a tremendous job. I think he’s very family oriented. That’s going to be something great for Aiden as well.”
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