Recruiting Report: Joe Smoldt (2017)
One of the most dazzling point guards in a state loaded with sensational ones is Gladbrook-Reinbeck and Iowa Barnstormers 2017 Joe Smoldt. As of now the 5-foot-11 showstopper has just one offer, from Division II Upper Iowa, though several…
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Continue ReadingOne of the most dazzling point guards in a state loaded with sensational ones is Gladbrook-Reinbeck and Iowa Barnstormers 2017 Joe Smoldt.
As of now the 5-foot-11 showstopper has just one offer, from Division II Upper Iowa, though several other D2 and NAIA schools have been showing considerable interest.
The Peacocks started pursuing Smoldt shortly after we talked with him last January, and didn’t waste a lot of time in extending an offer.
“They started contacting me and talking to me a little bit last winter; phone calls and letters and stuff. And then they came to an open gym, and then I went to one of their games and saw the campus a little bit. They saw me at the state tournament and then after that I got the offer,” said Smoldt, who listed the other schools recruiting him.
“Briar Cliff has been talking to me a lot, and then Morningside and Sioux Falls have been talking to me a lot. And both of those schools were at the state tournament, and that’s when they really started liking me.”
“And then I went on visits to Sioux Falls and Morningside last month. Wayne State is still sending letters and a couple texts and stuff like that.”
Smoldt, who earned 1A Tournament Captain honors at the state tournament — for the second straight year — last March, was hearing from Division I schools a bit earlier this year. That interest has since tapered off.
He’s fine with that. It’s the fit that’s most important for Smoldt, not the level he plays at.
“South Dakota is not really talking to me anymore, and Western Illinois just sends some letters still,” said Smoldt.
“It doesn’t really bother me that much. I just want to go somewhere and play, and be the right fit for a team. And if that’s not D1, then that’s not D1. It doesn’t’ really matter which level. Whichever schools are going to come at me the hardest that’s where I want to be.”
As he heads into his final two live periods and then his senior season with the Rebels, Smoldt says it’s body and his physicality that he’ll be working to improve.
“I think one of the main things is just trying to get stronger and just trying to play the game more physical.
Because at the next level that’s what it’s going to be like – there’s going to be guys that are bigger than me that will be guarding me. So I need to get stronger to be able to play with them,” said Smoldt, who is in Milwaukee this weekend and then Las Vegas all next week with the Barnstormers 17U.
“I can’t hold anything back, these are the last two tournaments of AAU ball. I’m just going to be aggressive and show what I can do.”