Recruiting Report: Dontre English (2016)

<h2>October 13, 2015</h2><p>After a strong junior season and an active offseason playing with Iowa Elite and Des Moines North, senior guard <strong>Dontre English</strong> is starting to see his recruitment start up.</p> <p>Though the 6-foot-2 playmaker is still under-recruited, he says some area JuCos have inquired about him via his grassroots coach Larry Mason.</p> <p>“I still haven’t seen any mail or anything so far, my AAU coach has told me that some schools had reached out to him about me. Most of them were JuCo and Division II coaches. I think some of them were Indian Hills, Southwestern Community College, and then Nebraska-Omaha had contacted them about me,” said English, who says he’d be open to attending a JuCo.</p> <p>“I keep my thought process on thinking about where I see myself going or where I could end up at if I chose to take that route. Honestly I see it as I’m a player that loves the game and I know I have tremendous talent. But when I play, I play for the team, so I’m going to be be playing to win and that&#39;s what drives me, and that’s what colleges should notice about me.”</p> <p>After a sensational junior season where he led his Woodward Academy team to its first ever state tournament appearance while averaging 20.6 points per game, English says it was his defense and decision-making that he worked to improve this offseason.</p> <p>“I did great defending for Iowa Elite, but some of the areas I still need to work on is my assist-to-turnover ratio, and basically just making smarter decisions as a player,” said English, who will look to be the leader of a new-look Polar Bear team this season.</p> <p>“This year I’m going to bring leadership to the team and I’m going to carry the team in all ways possible, like vocally and just being a positive person. I want to show people that you should be at practice and you should go hard at practice and that’s where is starts, is behind closed doors.”</p> <h2>March 18, 2015</h2><p>Woodward Academy was the darling of the state tournament quarterfinals last week at Wells Fargo Arena, and <strong>Dontre English</strong> was the focal point of that attention.</p> <p>The 6-foot-2 guard led the Knights last season averaging 20.3 points, 4.4 assists and 4.1 steals per game.</p> <p>“I was always shooting to be the best I could be this season, and that’s my plan every time I step out in the court,” said the junior combo-guard.</p> <p>“My family, the push, and the drive, and my heart help me. My family supports me 100 percent, it’s that support that really gets me to the basket, they tell me to do this, because this is what I love and what I’m good at and what I like to do.”</p> <p>This summer English will join Ames-based All Iowa Attack, a move that was set up by fellow attack player Canyon Hopkins’ father.</p> <p>“I was playing against Earlham and (Canyon) Hopkins’ dad talked with my coach and asked if he thought I’d be interested, and I’ve always been interested in playing with them,” said English. “I’m definitely looking forward to developing with them.”</p> <p>After his 17U season with AIA is finished, English informed <em>PHI</em> that he’ll be playing with coach Chad Ryan and the Des Moines North Polar Bears next season  -- his senior season.</p> <p>“My mom told me she thought that’d be a better fit for me,” said English. “My older brother played under Coach (Chad) Ryan and he told me he’s a good coach, and he thinks it’s a right fit for me too.”</p> <div> </div>