Prospect Spotlight: Mark Brinkley (2018)
Woodlawn High School has been a top team in Baltimore County for a long time now, and last season wasn’t any different. The Warriors finished with the second-best record at 20-5 and 10-1 in the county, with their only loss coming to the 4A state champion Perry Hall.
2018 guard Mark Brinkley was a major part of the team’s overall success. After starting the season coming off the bench, it didn’t take long for Brinkley to find himself being included in the starting five. The 6’2 guard averaged 13 points per game for the Warriors in 2016-17 and will be a key component to repeating their success next season.
Brinkley is a tough guard who’s strength is taking his man to the rim and finishing. Much of his scoring came in transition. What makes him so valuable is the fact that he is always going to give maximum effort no matter if he’s touching the ball consistently on the offensive end. Brinkley more often than not is the guy who guard the opposing team’s best perimeter player and he doesn’t back down. For his senior campaign, he is going to be responsible for much of the ball handling duties after losing senior point guard Christian Wright.
Not only will Brinkley be expected to polish his ball handling skills, head coach Bobby Richardson told him that he will have to become more of a leader on the floor. Brinkley and teammate Demauri Warren will be counted on to lead by their experience they gained from this past season.
His focus for this summer is to improve on his outside shooting. Brinkley is capable of knocking down the long ball, but he wants to become a more consistent threat, which will open up opportunities for him to take advantage of his strength in driving to the bucket.
I recently saw Brinkley play against Calvert Hall in a summer league contest and he showed solid ability to handle the ball against full court pressure. He finished the game with a team-high 18 points as he battled against Brendan Adams, one of the top players in the area.
No colleges are currently pursuing Brinkley. He told PrepHoops that he currently holds a 3.0 GPA. His biggest priority for college is finding the best fit for him both system wise and educationally.