Recruiting Report: Kailleb Walton-Blanden (2018)
Now healthy, 6-foot-3, 165 pound three sport athlete Kallieb Walton-Blanden is a talented prospect that many schools should have on their radar.
Kailleb will be a senior at Rapid City Central high school. As a freshman he was starting for the Cobblers in some of their biggest games and performing beyond expectations.
As a sophomore Walton-Blanden was one of the best in the state at his age earning all state tournament team honors and this past March, after sitting out many games because of injury, Kailleb came back and has some excellent games like the 24 against Scottsbluff or the 20 against Douglas.
“As a player I felt like I’ve grown mentality and physically also as a leader on and off the court,” Kailleb told PHD. “The experiences I will be taking away from this past season are working hard in the classroom and on the court because academics mean just as much as basketball.
“I’ve experienced a lot that can help others because you need to work together as a team, because basketball is a team sport not an individual sport. So helping others is a big part of the game. And just having fun.”
Kailleb has enjoyed a nice high school career in not just basketball, but football and track & field. His future is bright in whatever sport he is playing at the time but he spends a lot of time working to better his basketball career.
“My shooting, finishing at the rim strong, creating space, and getting my teammates open shots are my focus of improvement.”
Walton-Blanden is not playing AAU basketball but is staying very busy with the game in a lot of ways.
“I’ve played with my high school team and we’ve gone to about five tournaments this summer, plus we also do the summer league,” Kailleb said. “I went to the Warwick elite invitational.
“And then on the 17th of July I go to Vegas to play in a tournament with the high school team. I’ve also been doing Benson workouts and individual basketball workouts at school.”
After recovering from a hand injury Kailleb isn’t thinking about college sports yet, he’s more worried about finishing out his high school season strong. That said, when healthy, PHD is told that Kailleb has the potential to be a top ten level senior in the state.
“I plan on going and playing basketball in college but I haven’t really looked at colleges yet but I like SDSU,” Kailleb.