Recruiting Report: Caleb Allen (2017)
Toledo Start power forward Caleb Allen (2017), put himself on our radar last week in his final high school game. Last Wednesday against Whitmer, Allen kept his team in the game by dominating the paint and playing throwback, bruiser basketball.
According to Allen himself, the performance was no fluke.
“That’s pretty much a normal game for me. In my opinion, I’ve had better games than that,” Allen said.
Unfortunately for Allen, this senior season hasn’t been enough to earn a scholarship offer. Currently, he’s only seeing interest from Adrian College. However, he’s hoping to go the JUCO route and eventually end up playing four years at the Division II or Division I level.
“I’ll probably go JUCO and give that a shot. I’ll probably try to transfer to a high D-I, like a good D-I school or maybe a high D-II school,” Allen said.
The 6’3” post player is a late bloomer who transferred from Maumee this past year. The situation is partially responsible for his lack of college interest.
He’s grown five inches in high school, and came in a totally different player. In the past few years, he’s become a very effective interior player, although he lacks height. When PHO was watching him against Whitmer last Wednesday, we caught ourselves believing he could contribute at the Division III level as soon as next year.
Even though Allen is undersized, his craftiness creates clean shot opportunities and gets him to the free throw line. Also, Allen showed some solid court-vision in the high-post face-up last Wednesday, hitting guards on backdoor cuts.
“I’m a dominate post player. I can stretch out — I can shoot the three-ball when needed. I can dribble the ball. I attack the rim very strong. Rebound pretty well,” Allen said.
Defensively, Allen uses his strength to push guys off the block and force them into contested shots.
Although Allen, despite his talents, is yet to receive a scholarship offer, he hasn’t stopped working on his craft this offseason. Allen made it very clear during the interview that he loves the game.
“I just like the game, honestly. I can’t live without it. I play basketball every day. It’s kind of a hobby, but a job to me. Looking to get better day by day,” Allen said.