Recruiting Report: Payton Egloff (2019)
Six-foot-2, 167 pound junior point guard Payton Egloff of Regis Jesuit dealt with an injury that forced him to miss his 16u season but he’s nearly ready for his junior year.
“Over this summer I didn’t play because I had a knee surgery,” Payton said. “I have been out for the past seven months and I am a few weeks away from being 100 percent cleared. Although I didn’t play I feel like my game still got better because I was constantly shooting, both free throws and jump shots and working on my ball handling and lifting.
“Now that my knee is better I am working on getting back in the rhythm of things and really developing getting my shot off quicker and post moves.”
Payton still has several weeks to prepare for the 2017-18 season and he has a daily plan of how he wants to get ready.
“Before winter I really want to just improve my confidence as a player and really focus on the mental side of my game as well as just looking to get my shot off more and looking for more opportunities for my teammates as well as myself,” Egloff said.
“Athletically I would like to really just focus on getting my left leg stronger and quicker because I don’t have pain in my knee anymore and I’m excited to see what I will be able to do when it gets to 100 percent.”
Regis Jesuit was 13-12 last year but Payton thinks big things could happen with so much of their rotation back.
“This year I believe the sky is the limit for our team,” Payton stated. “We could be really good if everyone plays together and trusts in each other. We have most guys coming back and we are only losing one starter in Connor Hobbs.
“We have a ton of talent and I would say our goals aren’t anything short of a championship if we put all of the pieces together.”
Because he didn’t play this summer while recovering schools haven’t started calling Payton much yet, but we expect them to soon.
“Right now I am not talking to many schools because I didn’t play this summer. I’ve talked to Dartmouth a little bit.
“I haven’t visited any schools recently and I haven’t considered visiting anywhere for basketball because I haven’t been talking to a whole lot of schools. Hopefully that changes after this season.”
A guy that Payton loves to watch close? One of Duke’s best.
“At the college level Grayson Allen has really influenced my game because he is a leader on the court and he does it all,” Payton stated. “He can shoot dribble, attack the basket and play defense and he is also athletic but the main thing of his that I like is his attitude.
“He is super mentally tough and he doesn’t care what people think of him on the court and that’s the attitude that I’ve been trying to develop over during my time off from playing.”