Prospect Spotlight: Brendan Harrick (2018)
Esperanza’s Brendan Harrick spent the last two seasons playing in the shadow of 6-foot-8 scoring machine KZ Okpala.
The Aztecs offense ran through Okpala, who will be a freshman at Stanford this fall, and rightfully so as the talented small forward averaged more than 30 points per game last season.
But many who never watched an Esperanza game live understood the huge contributions of Harrick, especially in the team’s run to the CIF State Division II championship.
The 6-foot-5, 200 pound small forward averaged 12.6 points and 4.6 rebounds during his junior campaign, including a 25-point outing in the state title victory over Northern California-based Moreau Catholic.
Harrick said he believes his contributions were a bit under-appreciated last season.
“A little bit,” he said. “KZ took most of the shots and most of the spotlight was on him, so I just played my role and did what I had to do.”
2018 SF Brendan Harrick using the summer to prepare for an increased role at Esperanza High.Harrick’s role is sure to be much larger during his senior year as Esperanza returns only three players from last year’s team and the sharpshooting wing is using the summer with the California Stars club program to help prepare for the extra responsibilities.
“I’m just in the gym a lot,” he said. “I’m trying to work on reading and getting through double teams and being guarded by multiple people. Everyone graduated last year, so I’m just trying to get the other guys ready.”
As far as strengths and weaknesses go, Harrick touts his shooting ability and basketball acumen, but understands that defense will be key for him both at the high school and college levels.
“I’m a good shooter, have a high IQ and can pass the ball really well and I like getting other guys involved,” Harrick said. “I have to work on my defense, athleticism, lateral quickness and getting stronger.”
The senior-to-be is a two-sport athlete with his springs being spent on the baseball diamond. Harrick mentioned his fastball is consistently in the high 80’s and low 90’s range and hopes he can continue as a dual-sport star at the next level.
“It’s been a dream of mine since I was young,” he said. “But it’s tough, so we’ll see how it goes.”
Harrick, who holds a 3.6 grade point average, reports recruiting interest in basketball from UC San Diego, Princeton and Brown and from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo on the baseball side.