Recruiting Report: Shereef Mitchell (2019)
Guard Shereef Mitchell of Sunrise Christian Academy has the attention of several division one schools and this July could be closing in on a high major offer. Mitchell reclassified from 2018 to 2019 recently.
Mitchell recently graduated from Omaha Burke High School but as a 17 year old who won’t turn 18 until later in July, Shereef is young for his grade so he reclassified to the 2019 class and will play at Sunrise Christian this winter. Mitchell averaged 24.6 points per game as a senior and is having a solid spring playing with the OSA Crusaders on the 17u Adidas circuit.
Coming into the spring Shereef accumulated offers from several teams including Bradley, UC-Davis, Drake, Kent State, LIU-Brooklyn, Loyola of Chicago, Missouri-Kansas City, Murray State, Nebraska-Omaha, Robert Morris, South Dakota State. However, the way Mitchell has played this spring has high major programs showing stronger interest and one of the teams showing stronger interest is Minnesota.
That interest led to Mitchell participating, and excelling at the recent Gopher Team Camp at the end of June.
“Ever since the team camp, I’ve talked to Minnesota more and they have showed more interest,” Mitchell said on Thursday. “The team camp was really good. I had a lot of fun playing and competing. The facilities at Minnesota are really nice and really high quality. Very nice being around the practice facility and seeing what it’s like at the university.”
Minnesota assistant coach Kyle Lindsted was previously at Sunrise Christian Academy (his father started the school and Kyle was the coach at Sunrise Christian for a long time) before coaching at Wichita State. With Mitchell going to school in Wichita at Sunrise there is an obvious connection between the two. Shereef is already a fan of Lindsted and Coach Richard Pitino.
“I haven’t talked to Coach Pitino yet but he seems like a really great coach and person in general,” Mitchell said. “And me and Coach Linsted’s relationship has grown since the team camp. He knows what he’s talking about and is a really good coach that could help.”
Other high major schools are picking up their interest in Mitchell as well.
“Creighton, Washington State, DePaul, and Wichita State (are also showing strong interest),” Mitchell explained.
Very soon Mitchell will be traveling the country with his OSA Crusaders team out of Omaha playing in front of all these schools and more. Mitchell has big goals for this July.
“As an individual and team I want to accomplish a lot, but it’s just one step at a time,” Mitchell explained. “As a team, I want to go and compete in every tourney we are in and want to win it. Not only make it far but come out on top. I want to help my teammates get the offers they would like and push them to their goals as being a better player/person on and off the court.
“Individually, I want to go out there and play hard and do my best every game. I want to come out July with offers and more interest and become a better player and person on and off the court. I just want to be the best teammate and player to my teammates and coaches. I want to be a better overall player.”