Recruiting Report: JJ Strumbel (2018)
About a month ago, I drove an hour or so west to shoot JJ Strumbel’s senior photos. The Rockford forward towered over me at 6-foot-6, and I was struck by his focus. He loves sports, and he basically dedicates all of his time to either basketball or baseball. He certainly has the talent to play both in college.
“I’ve been looking at schools that offer Athletic Training and Sports Management for majors,” Strumbel said. “I have been looking at competitive schools for basketball and baseball. If possible, I would like to play both, but my primary choice would be to play basketball.”
His schedule goes essentially right from AAU basketball to fall baseball.
“For baseball, I’m a right handed pitcher, play 1st and 3rd base,” he said. “And I have heard from a variety of schools at the D3 & D2 level with a few D1s. I am just starting to get more involved talking with coaches for baseball. I compete with Pine Tar Academy out of Minnetonka and look to be on their Siebert League team this Fall competing on the University of Minnesota campus and traveling around to tournaments, including Las Vegas in October.”
(Vegas in October? Makes more sense than Vegas in July, like many of our AAU friends will do this week. Heard it could be 105 degrees.)
JJ’s favorite sport is basketball. I haven’t seen him play for Rockford, but I did see him make a nice splash at one of our Northstar Hoops prospect events. He’s a definite 6-foot-6 with shooting and slashing ability.
“I play center/PF for Rockford High School, but college coaches I have talked with have discussed me playing anywhere from the 2-4 position depending on my fit for the program,” Strumbel added. “I like to shoot (led my school last year with over 40% three-point shooting), so (I’d like to go) somewhere I can have that opportunity but also be able to work underneath. I was voted as a Captain for the upcoming season.”
With that kind of versatility combined with his work ethic and dedication, you can tell why he’s becoming more and more popular among college recruiters.
“I’ve been talking with a variety of schools but the top three I have had the most conversations with are Wisconsin-Stout, St. Mary’s and Central College in Iowa,” he said. “I’ve been on all three campuses but need to take a full campus tour of St. Mary’s. I’ve liked them all for various reasons, and the coaches keep in contact with me regularly. I just got done with a camp at Central last week.
“Additional schools I have heard from for basketball include Sioux Falls (visited), William Penn (visited), Loras, Hamline University (visited for games), Gustavus (visited) and St. Scholastica.”