Iowa freshman guard Ben Rand, a Rochelle native, announced Friday he will transfer at the end of the spring semester.

He has not decided where he will transfer to, but NIU was the first college that offered him a scholarship when he was at Rochelle High School -15 minutes from DeKalb. All transfers have to sit out a year before being eligible with their new school.

“A lot of times players will put a lot of stock into the highest school that offers them a scholarship,” said NIU coach Rob Judson, who is not allowed to comment directly on any transfers. “They don’t really look at socially and academically how they fit into the university.”

Judson also said a big reason there are a lot of transfers is because of a lack of playing time.

Rand, a 6-foot-6 shooting guard, played in 19 games this season at Iowa. He scored a career-high five points in a win over North Carolina-Asheville.

“The roster has changed since the time I made my commitment to coach [Steve] Alford and the Iowa program,” Rand said in an Iowa press release. “I will seek to find a program where I can be a major contributor following a redshirt season.”

As a senior at Rochelle, Rand averaged 22 points and nine rebounds. Rochelle coach Russ Zick called him “the best I’ve ever coached; there’s no doubt about that.”

Along with Rand, there are three other Chicago-area players who were on the NIU recruiting radar coming out of high school but opted elsewhere and have announced they will transfer: Purdue’s Melvin Buckley, West Virginia’s Jerrah Young and Illinois State’s Chris Burras.

Buckley, a 6-foot-6 shooting guard, played with current NBA player Eddy Curry at Thornwood High School.

Young, a 6-foot-7 power forward, was a teammate of Toledo freshman guard Rashay Russell at St. Rita High School in Chicago.

Burras, a 6-foot-6 small forward, attended NIU assistant coach Donald Whiteside’s alma mater, Leo High School in Chicago.