School may be out for summer, but Talor Battle will return to classes in the fall. According to FOX23 out of Battle’s hometown of Albany, New York, a text message confirmed that the star guard of the Nittany Lions will take his name out of the NBA draft and return to Happy Valley for his senior season.

Neither the Penn State Athletic Office nor the NBA have not confirmed the validity of Battle’s change of heart yet. He is still going to Oregon today to work out with the Portland Trailblazers, and he has until Saturday to officially withdraw his name from the draft.

Thoughts are that Battle is returning to school because of his bleak draft stock. Most experts have him projected to go in the late second round or to go completely undrafted, which is more than a fair estimate. He is too small and still too raw of a product to enter the NBA next year.

This now means that there is a glimmer of hope for next season. With the departure of Chris Babb (and, to a lesser extent, Bill Edwards), the back-court situation looked shaky with what would’ve been sophomore Tim Frazier and hyped incoming freshman (and Battle’s half-brother) Taran Buie leading the charge. Now, stability has been brought back to the program. Battle has played with players like Jeff Brooks, DJ Jackson, and Andrew Jones for three years now, and he may be able to help at least one of them break through and become a standout player in their senior seasons.

The news is also good for coach Ed DeChellis, who will have his leading scorer and team leader back for a season, which may be his last if results aren’t superb.

[Pic]