Recruiting Report: Amir Coffey (2016)
November 11th Update The University of Minnesota men’s basketball team will welcome three new members starting in 2016 including guard Amir Coffey of Hopkins, Minn./Hopkins HS). Coffey signed his National Letter of Intent on Wednesday. Amir Coffey is apart of…
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Continue ReadingNovember 11th Update
The University of Minnesota men’s basketball team will welcome three new members starting in 2016 including guard Amir Coffey of Hopkins, Minn./Hopkins HS). Coffey signed his National Letter of Intent on Wednesday.
Amir Coffey is apart of Richard Pitino’s highest-rated recruiting class to date, ranking 17th according to 247Sports and 20th in the nation according to Scout.com. Both publications have the Gophers’ class rated third in the Big Ten.
“The signing of these three student-athletes represents another step in the growth of our program,” Pitino said.
“In Amir and Michael, we have the two best prospects in our state staying home to help us in our pursuit to win a championship. We look forward to having them represent our University both on and off the court.”
Coffey, whose father Richard played for the Gophers from 1986-90, is a consensus top-50 player in the nation and four-star prospect. The 6’7” guard, a McDonald’s All-American finalist, can play multiple positions and impact the game on both ends of the court.
Last season, Coffey missed significant time due to injury but averaged 14.3 points his sophomore season with the Royals. Coffey will be the highest rated recruit to suit up for the Gophers since Kris Humphries in 2003.
“Amir is a tremendous player and addition to our team,” said Pitino. “He can contribute in a number of ways – offensively, he is a good scorer while also being able to create for others.
“Beyond his skills on the court, he grew up a Gopher and comes from an outstanding family.”
September 21st Update
Today is the day for Amir Coffey. His decision day. This is the day that the number one ranked senior in Minnesota and ESPN’s 33rd ranked player nationally will make his college decision.
Who will it be?
Over the years people would always make their own ideas up or hear from somebody who heard something from somebody. When Roy Williams came to town everyone assumed that was the favorite. At a time Fred Hoiberg was pushed as the favorite because of Fred Hoiberg. Then Marquette. Now, many think he will be a Gopher.
Earlier in the month Texas, Michigan, SMU, and Oregon came to town along with Minnesota for visits at his school or home, but Amir cancelled his trip to Texas and didn’t go on visits to the other schools.
There were past official visits to a few places but the only school that he has visited recently is Minnesota. And Amir has been there several times in the past three months. The Gophers look to be the favorite.
“They’re always talking to me about how they would play me with a young team,” Amir said this summer. “I talk to Ben Johnson almost every other day about the team, how they would use me and the future I would have there.”
Amir’s offer list is huge. There is Arizona, Florida, Michigan State, Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa State, Alabama, SMU, Texas, Baylor, Michigan, Oregon, and so many others.
Yesterday Amir let every know that today is the day.
“Announcing my college decision tomorrow.”
“I am having a press conference at Hopkins high school tomorrow at 3:30 for my announcement.”
Today is the day. Or as Amir put it this morning, “Decision Day.”
September 7th Update
Richard Pitino and his staff are hoping to bring in a landmark in-state recruit and considering that Amir Coffey is a four star ranked player with the potential to rank with the best in his class, maybe he will be that guy.
Last weekend Amir officially visited the University of Minnesota along with his mother and father and based on Twitter reactions from his father, former Gopher Richard Coffey, things went very well Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
Today Gopher Illustrated caught up with the toughness of the 1990 Elite Eight Gopher squad Richard Coffey to discuss the recent trip.
“The visit went extremely well,” Richard said. “Amir had a really good time over there. He really, really enjoyed the players a lot which is really a big deal. They’ve done a great job with the entire process with Amir. Coach Pitino and his staff, they’ve just done a really great job.
“One of the things with local kids is that they think they know everything about the University of Minnesota. Amir has been to campus a lot of times. He’s very familiar with the campus so seeing it wasn’t new for him and sometimes you get so familiar with things you can them things for granted.
“I think the visit really helped Amir understand how important he is to them, or would be to their basketball team. It helped him understand how important it is for a local kid of his stature stay. So it was a really good visit and he is taking all of those things into consideration. There is also a lot of history there as I played there and his mom went to school there and he is taking all of this into consideration right now.”
During the trip Coffey and his family joined the Minnesota players and coaches at the football game, they toured campus, joined Coach Pitino at his house for a meal, and overall covered a lot of ground in a three day span.
“I think the whole visit stood out. The coaches did a really good job the entire visit. I know the difference maker during the visit was the time Amir spent with the players. Him hanging out with them at the game and at dinner.
“The players talking to Amir about the program while eating dinner, that was important. He talked with Stephon Sharpe (a freshman walk-on at Minnesota) who has been playing with Amir since the fourth grade. Reggie Lynch is back, another local kid, and he talked with Amir. Joey King too.
“Those three local kids talked to him about the program and then on top of that the kids that are from out of state that are here, they did a really good job telling Amir why they chose the University of Minnesota. Amir is a relationship guy and those relationships are important.”
Coffey has picked up a long list of scholarship offers over the past two plus years from some of the best programs in the country. Arizona, Michigan State, Michigan, Baylor, Florida, Indiana, Texas, Xavier, Wisconsin, etc. He’s definitely a coveted prospect, but right now it seems that Coffey may make his choice by the end of the month.
“Amir has one other visit scheduled right now, and that visit is with Texas,” his father said. “Not this weekend, but the following weekend. I think after that visit, I think there is a strong chance that Amir will make a decision. Very soon.”
Early last December Amir tore his ACL meaning he missed all but two games of his junior season and all of his final Grassroots basketball season with the Howard Pulley Panthers. He’s been ranked everywhere from 5th to 55th by various services the past three years but it was tough for the services to rank him recently considering most hadn’t seen him play since July of 2014.
Coffey tore his ACL early in the third game of his season on December 2nd and was back playing exactly eight months later at the Pacesetter Sweet 16 five weeks ago. It was a long road and Richard Coffey was surprised at how well Amir played considering the injury wasn’t that long ago.
“His first tournament back was at the Pacesetter and Amir blew my expectations away. He blew them away. I was coaching the team and I pulled him to the side and told him ‘Slow down, this is not the most important week’ and he told me ‘If I’m going to play, I’m going to play’.
“He did a great job during the rehabilitation process. He was doing everything he was supposed to do. He worked his butt off. Amir hit the weights really hard, he did all the exercises that the doctors has him do and it paid off.”
It wasn’t just a recovery and work ethic that Amir has showed, his response to this major injury showed a lot of maturity as well.
“When people ask me down the line when everything with basketball is done, whenever that may be, when they ask when I know he could be successful, my answer will be I knew during the six months that he was injured. He has shown a lot of maturity through this.”
Coffey is now fully healthy and ready to finish up his recruitment and then play his final season of his school basketball with Hopkins who is on a short list in Minnesota’s Class AAAA basketball list of favorites.
In case you are wondering, despite missing his junior season Amir has still scored 666 career points for the Hopkins varsity so he will surpass 1,000 points likely sometime in late January or early February.
August 17th Update
Today NHR spoke with Amir’s father Richard Coffey to check on set visits for his son Amir Coffey and found out two have been set. With Amir being a nationally talented four star recruit and the top talent in Minnesota’s senior class, everything he does with recruiting is being watched close.
“Amir will visit Minnesota the first weekend of September and Texas the third weekend of September,” Richard set.
The Gophers getting that first weekend visit is huge because also visiting that weekend is power forward Eric Curry from Arkansas plus it’s the weekend that the Minnesota football team will play TCU on national television.
Texas is the newest school to come into the picture but based on our recent report after the Texas offer, Amir definitely is interested in the Longhorns.
What other school could get a visit? Baylor and Marquette were mentioned before and are teams to watch. Amir also recently said some nice things about Michigan.
Aug 5, 2015
Hopkins guard Amir Coffey tore his ACL eight months ago and this weekend he was back on the court at the Sweet 16 leading Hopkins to the weekend championship. A quick recovery? Definitely. Word is Amir played like there was never an injury at all.
“This past weekend was my first weekend back on the court. It felt pretty good,” said Coffey. “I’m moving pretty well. It feels like a normal leg. I played pretty well scoring and rebounding.”
Coffey recently added yet another scholarship offer to his list. Texas joined Arizona, Baylor, Indiana, Marquette, Miami, Michigan State, Minnesota, Xavier, Wisconsin, and many others in offering Amir.
“Coach Shaka Smart, I’ve been talking to him, texting him and talking to him and an assistant on the phone. He talked to my dad and talked about how interested they are, and told him they wanted to offer.”
“I have a lot of interest. It’s always great to play under a great coach that has a lot of success. I feel comfortable in them already. I feel like we already have a relationship. From the sound of it, he gets after it and players and gets after it too.”
Texas sounds like they are in a good spot with Coffey but they are coming in to the race a bit later than others.
“Teams that are talking to me the most right now are Minnesota, Baylor, Miami, Marquette, Michigan. Those are the schools that are talking to me and reaching out.”
What is Amir looking for in a school?
“I want to have a great relationship with the coaching staff. I want to have a school with a good education, and the right fit for me. Location doesn’t really matter for me as long as it’s a good fit.”
Next up for Amir is visits but where and when have not been decided. He did say a month ago that Minnesota, Baylor, and Marquette would get visits but nothing is set in stone.
“Not for sure yet. Starting to get an idea. Still need to talk to my parents about. I’ve been talking with my dad, we’re discussing it. Maybe in next couple of weeks we can figure out a schedule.”
Feb 2, 2015 Update
The number one ranked junior in Minnesota is Amir Coffey and twice in January Coffey went to college games to see schools he’s looking hard at. Earlier in the month it was Iowa State and this weekend it was Minnesota.
“It was a fun time,” Coffey said about Williams Arena. “Good environment for the game. The boys played well.”
The Gopher crowd had signs and produced several “We Want Coffey” chants.
“That was pretty cool,” Coffey said, “nice to see them show some love.”
Next up for Amir is to take some official visits this winter while he rehabs his torn ACL.
“I’m not sure yet when I will take the visits. I’ll talk to my parents soon about it probably.”
Amir is currently rehabbing his injury and it’s going well.
“It’s feeling great,” Amir said. “My muscle is starting to comeback and the swelling is going away. It’s feeling like a normal knee right now.”
October 20, 2014 update
Six-foot-7, 185 pound Amir Coffey is currently the most recruited player in the state of Minnesota right now, the highest ranked player nationally in the state at the moment, and grabbing most of the headlines.
Last Friday Amir joined Gary Trent Jr, Michael Hurt, and Matthew Hurt as guest at the Gopher scrimmage. This is what he had to say:
“It was cool. I talked with the coaches and saw some of the weight room. The scrimmage was nice, they have a lot of talent on the team. It was fun to watch.
“We’ve had the usual conversations. I keep in contact with Ben Johnson and Richard Pitino. They want me to come by campus when I have time.”
Amir now has listed offers from Minnesota, Iowa State, Arizona, Michigan State, Baylor, Creighton, Indiana, Marquette, Miami (FL), Penn State, Wisconsin, Xavier, and others. The most recent came from Arizona.
“It’s awesome,” Amir said. “Whenever you get an offer from a school like Arizona it’s a good feeling.”
Recruiting is hitting a peak for Amir but he’s still a ways away from a college choice.
“Recruiting, it takes a lot of time because you have to talk to all the coaches to build relationships and there are time you don’t always want to do that, but you but you need to because they are offering you opportunity.
“Being recruited is a blessing but sometimes you have to put the phone down and get away.”
Amir’s father Richard Coffey played for the Minnesota Gophers and the Minnesota Timberwolves in the last 80s and early 90s. He’s also a key member of the state tournament broadcast team on channel 45. There are some that assume Minnesota for Amir just because he his dad went to school here but that will only happen if it’s the right fit.
“I know people say ‘you know he’s going to Minnesota’ but we don’t know yet,” Coffey said on KSTP channel 5 last week.
“They are high up on my list. There isn’t any peer pressure, at the end of the day it’s what’s school is best for me. If that is the Gophers than I will be a Gopher. But right now I don’t know what that is yet.”
Coffey is coming off a sophomore year that saw him average 14.5 points per game. He’s totaled 606 points in his two year career so you can expect him to go over 1,000 sometime later in the season. Hopkins was runner-up last year and are hoping for a big season.
“We have a young team. John Warren is our only senior player right now. We have a lot of sophomore and juniors, so me and John Warren are actually going to be the leaders of this team. We are just trying to teach everybody what (Ken) Novak wants and how to play.”
The Royals still have a strong share of talent. Amir is of course a nationally ranked 2016 talent ranked all over the top 50 from various services. Northstar Hoops believes John Warren is also a division one player.
Yes the Royals have much to replace but their junior class includes Cedric Boone at guard, Vinnie Shahid returning at guard, the explosive Xavier Johnson at guard, Eric Davis in the front court, and LaMichael Wade also returning.
The sophomore group includes Ishmael El-Amin, shooter Simon Wright, and forward Daryl Mayfield, and the freshman have top ten talent Anthony Davis and 6-foot-8 Joseph Hedstrom.