Prospect Spotlight: Emmanuel Izunabor (2019)
Height: 6’9 School: Fayetteville Academy AAU Team: Fayetteville Elite Attention Division 1 college coaches!!! You will definitely want to put this young man’s information in your files as soon as possible, you may not have heard of him as of…
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Continue ReadingHeight: 6’9
School: Fayetteville Academy
AAU Team: Fayetteville Elite
Attention Division 1 college coaches!!! You will definitely want to put this young man’s information in your files as soon as possible, you may not have heard of him as of yet but trust me that will change very soon. Emmanuel Izunabor is a young man who came to the United States less than two years ago and was a very raw player who was still working on mastering the fundamentals of the game. Also during the beginning of the year he suffered a stress fracture in his foot, which sidelined him for the April live periods. As he has put in more time in the weight room, rehab, and on the court with various drill work, we can clearly see his hard work paying off and him developing into a legitimate division 1 prospect. Now that he’s back healthy, he has been showing his talent at the various team camps throughout the month of June and has been turning heads all over the state.
Big Man Skills
We see more often than not these days a lot of big men that like to play outside of the paint and settle for jump shots, they don’t possess any back to the basket moves and seem as if they don’t like to mix it up inside. Well that is definitely not the case for Emmanuel, he mixes it up inside with the other bigs and uses his strong frame to dominate the boards on both ends of the floor. Also he understands proper positioning when boxing out and doesn’t rely solely on his athleticism to try and jump over players to get rebounds. One game In particular that I had the privilege of watching, he pulled down 20 rebounds unofficially and chipped in 15-17 points in one of his first games back following a foot injury. Offensively he is very comfortable with his back to the basket and finishes plays with dunks off the drop step or a smooth baby hook shot that he has perfected. On the defensive end he protects the paint very well, he blocks and alters shot at a high rate and does a solid job of staying out of foul trouble by not leaving his feet early. At this point his recruitment has been extremely quiet but I don’t expect things to stay that way for much longer, he’s definitely a player who has yet to reach his potential and will continue to improve.