Prospect Spotlight: Elijah Roye (2020)
It’s never easy to build a program from the ground up, which is what Carmel Coach Toby Campbell is doing after the program had been dormant for close to five years. One of the things you must do is find talent, and with his resources and connections he has found players both locally and all over the place.
One of the players Campbell found that’s made an immediate impact has been junior forward Elijah Roye from Canada. The 6’7” forward has great length and athleticism, and despite only playing basketball for a few years he has a solid skillset that includes the ability to face up and score with both hands around the basket.
Since coming to the States on August 15th, Roye says he’s been taking everything and is excited for what him and his new team have in store.
“It’s been pretty good so far,” Roye said. “The team is gelling well, we’re playing well, I’ve gotten used to school and I’ve been getting in the flow of things. It’s still early but I’m really excited about the season.”
The Wildcats have been on a roll so far this season, as their sitting at 5-1 with their only loss coming at Richmond power Trinity Episcopal. In their win over Hargrave before that game, Roye had a big outing scoring 13 points grabbing 10 rebounds and swatting four blocks. The team looked like they had good chemistry, and they’ve played plenty of games together already.
“We’ve been playing a lot together and are always encouraging each other,” he said. “Coach Campbell is an intense guy, he keeps us on the floor but he yells at us and keeps us ready. But just playing hard, going after boards and going after it is what is keeping us in games and making us successful.”
Roye brings both size and a unique skill set to a Carmel team with plenty of scorers and athletes on the wing. For someone who hasn’t been playing basketball very long he has a good understanding of spacing, can score at the basket and if all else fails he’s going to be a monster on the glass all night.
“I definitely like to go for boards a lot, I can make pretty good moves around the rim and I can space the floor out to 15. I can move my feet pretty well with guards defensively too. I need to work on my ball handling and shooting it from 3 to make my game more multi-faceted.”
While he’s only been in the states for a few months, Roye is quickly becoming a guy more and more people are talking about. He’s already got some interest from Longwood, and with a high GPA and a good ways into college courses already he’ll likely see some high academic schools get involved as well.
As far as what he wants to do in his first year at Carmel, he just wants to ball out.
“I just want to be productive, maybe average a double-double here, help the team win and possibly even get myself some offers.”
A prospect on the come up with a program on the come up, Carmel plays a number of tough programs from across the Virginia area and will compete as a VISAA Division 3 school this year. Expect Roye to make some big contributions throughout the year as they continue to develop together.