Indy Heat Tryouts
The Indy Heat program hosted their third and final tryout session this year for teams in Spring and Summer of 2018. They are coming off a year that put their top 16U team in the Final Four of the Nike Peach Jam in Augusta, Georgia. They are looking to put together another solid season and had a ton of top talent in each class at their workout session. The first session included players from the Class of 2021, 2022, and a few from 2023. The first session went from 1:00 – 3:00 p.m. and the second session went from 3:00 – 5:00 p.m. this afternoon at SportOne Fieldhouse in Fort Wayne. The second session included players from the Class of 2019 and 2020. Players from Michigan and Ohio were also in attendance looking to find a place within the well-known and proven program.
Session #1 – Class of 2021 and 2022
Freshman-To-Be
The first session with the younger classes hosted around forty kids in total. Some of the standouts included Darrion Brooks, Derrick Moore (Worthington Christian), Austin Jordan (Marian), Ashton Johnson (Towels), Jackson Dawson (Warsaw), and Jaylen Lattimore (Towels) all trying out for the freshman-to-be rosters. Darrion Brooks was great with his length. He is currently in the seventh grade but is showing some signs of being a great player down the road. Derrick Moore is an athletic wing that gets to the basket well off the bounce and competes on both backboards. Austin Jordan will be a freshman guard at Marian this year and will be a good point guard that is ball heavy. He showed signs of consistency with his jumper and has some natural leadership abilities. Ashton Johnson is a big bodied forward with a good feel and touch around the rim that will need to tone up his body moving forward to get out in the open floor and finish on the move. Jackson Dawson is a long, lanky forward that can stretch the floor with the deep ball and showed his high IQ with his off ball movement yesterday. Jaylen Lattimore is a big, strong, left handed forward that is shifty with the ball in his hands on the perimeter and showed that he can hit from deep with good regularity. Overall, a good workout for the young class.
Sophomore-To-Be
The second group of the first session included Blake Davison (Leo), Michael Eley (FW Snider), Brendon Lytle (FW Bishop Dwenger), Weston Hamby (Manchester), Kalen Etzler (Crestview [OH]), and Jaxon Mull (Culver Academy) all fighting for spots on the sophomore-to-be rosters. Blake Davison has shown improvements in his ability to get to the rim and finish by adding length and strength to his frame. Crafty guard with the ball in his hands. Michael Eley is a long wing player that stretched the floor consistently from behind the arc and has good athleticism attacking the basket. Brendon Lytle is a good lead point guard with true guard tendencies. He creates opportunities well of the bounce. Weston Hamby is another true point guard prospect that gets to the back line of the defense and makes smart plays in the teeth of the defense. Kalen Etzler has the most upside of the group. He stands at a legit 6’7” and plays on the perimeter with guard tendencies. He hits at a good rate from deep and uses his length well on the boards. Jaxon Mull has added strength to his frame during the football season and was much more aggressive than other guards in the open floor attacking the basket. Needs to work on his ball skills as a point guard but will be player to keep an eye on with some proven athleticism early on.
Session #2 – Class of 2019 and 2020
Junior-To-Be
The second session of the afternoon showcased better basketball and more competition. The kids came in to compete from the get go. Second session group included Jordan Moore (FW North Side), William Dunn (Quincy [MI]), and Hunter Jackson (Cathedral) all competing for spots with the junior-to-be roster. Jordan Moore created well off the bounce and made some nice passes to his open teammates for easy baskets. He is an undersized point guard with strength that can get to his spots quickly. William Dunn is a wing that can knock down the three ball but was aggressive going to the basket at any angle during the tryout. He is lanky and has a good amount of athleticism around the rim. Hunter Jackson may have been the best on ball defender on the day. He competes up and down the floor and creates havoc on the defensive end.
Senior-To-Be
The older group of the second session were the guys competing to play on the senior-to-be roster for the Indy Heat program including Javin Etzler (Crestview [OH]), Hayden Smithey (FW Bishop Dwenger), Sawyer Stoltz (Huntington North), David Ejah (FW Carroll), Darrell Belcher (Catholic Central [MI]), and Ali Ali (East Noble). Javin Etzler was by far the best prospect in the gym yesterday afternoon. He can score the ball from every level with great consistency, he attacked the basket and finished over the rim, and he put the ball on the floor with confidence. Currently holds multiple DI offers and will continue to build on that in the coming years. Hayden Smithey has been with the program for two years and showed that he can play at the top level. He had it going with his pull up jumper and looks more confident handling the ball consistently. He will be a player to watch in the Fort Wayne area this season. Sawyer Stoltz is a face up forward that likes to shoot the jumper when he’s got the space. He made a few nice interior post moves and showed off his soft touch with either hand. David Ejah is a quickly improving prospect that is starting to use his length extremely well around the rim. He finishes above with rim with consistency and has improved on his mid-range jumper in the past few months. Darrell Belcher was one of the better athletes in the gym yesterday. The left lived by attacking the rim which created space on defense to where he could start hitting jumpers. Dynamic scorer out of Michigan. Ali Ali may have been the most improved player at the tryouts. At 6’7”, Ali can still light it up from deep but his game off the bounce was outstanding. He got into the lane with regularity and finished with either hand. He is also improving in the athleticism department. Will be an intriguing prospect to keep an eye on as he heads into his senior season.