Recruiting Report: Dev Patel (2018)
Last season, Camanche point guard Dev Patel burst onto the season while helping to lead his squad to a state tournament berth in Des Moines.
And the 6-foot-2 floor general caught the eye of a couple area college programs in the process.
“Mount Mercy has been in contact with me, every week since about four weeks ago; just checking up with how I’m doing and wanting to come see me this season,” said Patel.
“My coach is talking about St. Ambrose in Davenport contacting me later in the future. And he said not to worry about it, because when my senior season is over my recruitment will pick up some more.”
With two all-state guys playing alongside him last season, Patel was more of a role player than a star player. This season, he’ll have that top-dog role.
“I just want to show out what I got this season. I was overshadowed last season, and for good reason, we had two studs on our team last year,” he said. “I just want to show out every night, walk away with a W, and make it to the state tournament. That’s really all that matters at the moment.”
He prides himself on a being a guy that can do a little bit of everything on the floor, and do it well. He mentioned his specific playing style during our recent phone interview.
“As a skill-set, I’d say I’m a well-rounded player. I like passing the ball, I like playing defense, I like rebounding, I like scoring; just making plays for the team and making sure we walk out with a win,” said Patel.
Interestingly, instead of playing grassroots ball this spring and summer with any team, Patel took a more raw approach to his game, and played nightly at the neighborhood park.
“We have a city park here in Camanche, and a lot of the college guys who played at Camanche will all go down to the park every night, and I’d go there every night from like 7-11 until the lights shut off,” said Patel.
“And then we had a lot of summer camps with our team, and then I spent a lot of time in the weight room.”
With those two all-state seniors graduating from a season ago, Patel says there this year’s team may need some time to adjust before they hit their stride.
But when they do: watch out.
“In one word, I’d say our summer was inconsistent. We looked a little shaky at times, and that’s what you’re going to get where you lost two seniors like Dylan Hundley and Dakota Soenksen,” said Patel.
“But coach has faith in us, and we have faith in him to put us in a position to be successful. And I believe that we can make it back to Wells Fargo, and make some noise once we get there.”