Top 5 Takeaways: Next Up Freshman Camp
Saturday morning almost 60 freshmen (with a handful of eighth graders mixed in) made their way to Taylor County for Next Up Recruits annual Freshman showcase. This was my first chance to see many of the players in attendance and the class as a whole did not disappoint. We’ll have some positional breakdowns and standouts over the course of the week but here’s a look at the 5 biggest takeaways from Saturday’s camp.
The freshman class is full of small point guards
Of the 60 prospects in attendance, 25 listed themselves on the camp signup as a point guard and several others listed themselves as a guard or combo guard. 35 of the prospects listed their height under 6 foot tall and there were others who were definitely under 6 foot tall but added a couple inches when they signed up. What I’m getting at is there are a ton of small guards in the class. Yes they are young and we should expect many of them to grow but many of the better kids in the class (right now) have been held back and are already on the older end of the freshman class. It will be interesting to watch these kids grow (physically and mentally) and develop their games over the next 4 years.
This Freshman class has the makings of being a very good one
And several of the more established names in the class weren’t at this camp. Kendric Adams, Colby Fugate, Brady Dingess, Jerone Morton and several others were not in attendance Saturday. I left Saturday very impressed with the depth of the class and found a couple of kids that I think could develop into high major players over the next few years. The 2021 class is very deep and 2022 looks to follow in their footsteps and be full of high potential kids.
The future is very bright for Butler and Boyle County
There were several standouts at camp but what was impressive was that Butler sent 4 kids to camp and Boyle County sent 3 and all 7 players impressed. Boyle is going to be very young on the varsity level this season but freshmen Aden Slone, Luke Imfield and Hagan Webb all played well all camp. They got to be on the same team during the games part of the afternoon and their chemistry showed. The young men from Butler were also impressive. Chance Garner, Julion Beard, Cha’Vez Woods and Turrell Cleaves Jr. were all really good all day long and Cleaves has the potential to be a star in the 6th region a year from now.
The 2023 Prospects at camp were really good too
Several eighth graders took part in the camp as well and they flashed the potential to be a very good class. Reed Sheppard and Ryan Davidson (North Laurel), Kaleb Glenn (Westport Middle), Trey Skaggs (B.Michael Caudill), Dallas Roberts (North Oldham) and the newly reclassed Jack Edelen all performed well in the drills and looked good in the games portion of camp. Glenn was in the running for best prospect at camp and was dunking everything. He’s only an eighth grader but Glenn is built like a grown man already. If he can grow 4 more inches to 6’8, he can be a high major prospect in a few years.
Most of the class was very inconsistent on the day
There were some players who looked amazing in drills but showed next to nothing in the games. There were other players who went through the motions in drill work but suddenly turned it on when the games started in the afternoon session. They are just freshmen now but by the time they’re juniors and seniors, the cream will rise to the top. It never fails that the best players are the hardest workers and most consistent performers. As these 60+ players move through their high school and AAU careers, I’m sure the best prospects will be those who realize you have to go hard all the time and not be selective in your efforts.