Notebook: Moving Closer To The Season
Moving another week closer to the start of the season brings with it a ton of increased pressure and interest. Now, in the middle of October we have some more movement off the board and a few more offers and interest for the class of 2020 as they come to the forefront of college’s recruitment.
Laravia Makes Official Visit, Adds New Offer
There isn’t another player in the state that has come from nowhere to be a legit DI prospect quite like that of Lawrence Central (IN) forward Jake Laravia. The 6’7 emerging prospect was a guy that wasn’t even on anyone’s radar last high school season and blossomed quickly this past AAU season and picked up a multitude of offers.
The latest of which comes from Evansville, the Missouri Valley program from Southern Indiana. However, he just took his first official visit to SIU-Edwardsville this week as he starts the narrowing process. While SIU-E seems to be in the mix, he also has offers from Jacksonville, American, Incarnate Word, Army, and IUPUI. Who is next to get an official visit is still up in the air.
The 2020 class is starting to pick up some steam and one of those that is moving ahead with some pace is Mishawaka Marian (IN) guard Jaden Ivey. The 6’2 guard is one of the more well put together scorers in the Midwest and was really set to take off.
He had picked up offers from Butler and Purdue but the latest offer from Notre Dame could end things quickly. Notre Dame is where he is mother is the Associate Head Coach for the women’s basketball team and one would think that the Irish could be the best fit.
This weekend, though, he will travel to West Lafayette to officially visit Purdue, part of the new official visit rules afforded to prospects now. Time will tell if not only Purdue, but any other program will be able to compete with Notre Dame.
Jackson-Davis Announces Final Three
Time is nearing the end for 2019 forward Trayce Jackson-Davis. The highly ranked prospect has finished up all of his official visits and has now narrowed his choices down to his final three schools, UCLA, Indiana, and Michigan State.
Not much left in the tank for Jackson-Davis other than to make a commitment which could come at any time now.
Jennings Starting To Pick Up Steam
Taking a bit step forward in his recruitment, 2019 forward Jaylen Jennings of Ben Davis (IN) just landed a DI offer from Delaware State of the SoCon. There has been growing interest in the 6’7 forward but until this point, it really had only been DIII and NAIA interest.
Now, Delaware State will obviously be of interest. However, he just visited Illinois-Springfield, a DII program from Illinois and if he can have a solid season for the Giants, he could see some more programs take notice. He’s still more of a raw prospect than fully developed but could breakout if it comes together.
Quick Hitters:
2020 guard Jeremy Baker of Kokomo (IN) just got finished taking a visit to Northern Kentucky. He has yet to pick up his first offer but has had plenty of interest to this stage.
2020 wing Jake Wadding of Chesterton (IN) just got finished with a visit to Bethel College. He’s going to be a guy who draws a wide array of interest going from high-level NAIA up to LM programs.
2019 guard Cameron Maul of Ben Davis (IN) is coming off an injury but is still drawing some interest. He just finished up his visit to Illinois-Springfield, a DII program.
2019 forward Jalen Johnson of Indianapolis Manual (IN) picked up an offer from Alabama A&M during his visit this past week. He has some other DI offers from Southern Illinois and UIC.
2019 forward David Ejah of Fort Wayne Carroll (IN) picked up an offer from Grand Valley State. He has a ton of NAIA and DII interest including offers from Huntington, Saint Francis, Wheeling Jesuit, and Lake Superior State.
2020 post Kiyron Powell of Evansville Bosse (IN) picked up an offer from Georgetown as they were in for an open gym this week. Powell has been getting increased high-major interest lately with new offers from Miami (OH), Evansville, New Orleans, and Xavier.
2019 guard Isiah Moore of Warren Central (IN) picked up an offer from IU-East. This is the first offer from the guard who formerly hailed from Park Tudor (IN).
Commitments:
2019 guard Ben Nicoson of Center Grove (IN) has committed to University of Indianapolis. His father is the head coach of the women’s golf team at Indianapolis.
2019 guard Ethan Brittain-Watts of Culver Academies (IN) has committed to Boston University. He also had offers from Miami (OH), Toledo, IUPUI, Ball State, and South Dakota.