Recruiting Report: Grant Smith (2017)
Last year, Connersville came out of eastern Indiana to surprise a few teams and knocked off Greenfield-Central and New Castle to win Sectionals. They fell short of Southport in a close one in Regionals. This year, they are going for…
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Continue ReadingLast year, Connersville came out of eastern Indiana to surprise a few teams and knocked off Greenfield-Central and New Castle to win Sectionals. They fell short of Southport in a close one in Regionals. This year, they are going for it again with a senior-laden team led by Grant Smith.
“The team is looking pretty good,” Smith said of Connersville. “I’m picking up in the scoring and the rebounding but I’m still looking for the team. What coach is harping on me about is the team more than myself.”
Since last season, Smith has really started to come into his own. He’s become better in almost every area of his game and his jump shot is now a pretty big weapon for him. His athleticism, though, has allowed him to become much more versatile and it is showing in his play this season for Connersville.
“I’ve seen a lot more dribbling the ball, trying to score off the dribble, and trying to get myself open and not getting screened for,” Smith said of his game. “I think AAU helped a lot with that.”
“I loved playing with (Indiana Elite). It wasn’t a one-pass-and-it-goes-up kind of team. We also pushed the ball and really showed off my offensive package. Shooting the passing lanes was a lot of it on defense too.”
As for the next step of his career, Smith is starting to towards college and looking at different aspects of how he would fit in. Style of play is a big one as he’s played in a rugged, ground down style and an uptempo, all-out style in both high school and AAU. Now, he might be looking for that happy medium.
“In between will be nice,” Smith said of style of play. “Because if you get too much up and down and the fundamentals disappear and coming from coach (Kerry) Brown taught me nothing but fundamentals and that is a big part of it.”
Indiana Tech, IU-East, Olney Central, and Goshen have all officially offered the 6’5 wing. Other schools like Florida Southern and Holy Cross are taking big looks at him as well. IU-East is the local program and one he knows pretty well.
“I really like IU-East. I went up there and talked to all of their guys and it was a really upbeat practice and three hours went by really fast. I really like their coach and all of their players.”
Grant is still keeping his options open and looking down the road towards the end of the season. He’s going to wait it out for now, keeping all options on the table while he finishes up another big season with Connersville.
“I’m not really sure, I’m not really picky,” Smith said of what he wants in a college. “So nothing really makes me want to go there or not go there. I just think it depends really on how the community is there for the school and how the teammates are who I will be playing with.”