Recruiting Update: Damon Tobler (2018)
You don’t get an offer from Montverde Academy if you can’t play. Damon Tobler, a 6-foot-5 man-child guard/forward, brings an immeasurable intangible with his toughness and motor.
The left-handed Tobler, who transferred to Believe Prep (TN) from Montverde, made a quick-impact transition to high-level post-graduate. In his debut against Walters State (JUCO), Tobler scored 20 points and shot it at an 8-for-11 clip. While already holding a physical advantage with his strength, Tobler has sneaky athleticism and a relentlessness to his game.
From a reputable Kentucky recruiting class that features several prospects who elected to do a post-graduate year (Trace Young, Jaylen Sebree), Tobler has the attributes and big game poise to be a steal at the mid-major level. The two-star recruit has offers from Samford, Nicholls State, Winthrop, and Tennessee Tech. Conventional wisdom indicates a year on the prep circuit and games against national powers such as Mount Zion (Md.), Putnam Science (CT), and 10-15 competitive JUCO games will not only tune up his game simultaneously enable him to garner more visibility recruiting wise.
Bullish and multi-dimensional, Tobler hit timely shots (including a pair of 3-pointers) during the Walters State tournament in Tennessee. He also punched home an electrifying dunk through traffic, a play which supplied instant energy and jolted his team into focus.
It’s no secret, the Division-I game is very much predicated on quickness and high-level athleticism. Those are the characteristics most affiliated with guys who wind up at Kentucky or Kansas. And while many in today’s game are thin, quick, and laced with ferocious athleticism, Tobler is very much a throwback with his football-basketball mentality.
In the aforementioned Walters State tournament, there was plenty of trash talk and stare downs and extra-curricular activity. Tobler was not afraid to talk trash or supply aggressive, confrontational defense.
A major advocate of Tobler and the leadership qualities he brings is Believe Prep coach Jason Moxley. The younger brother of former N.C. State assistant coach and dogged recruiter Rob Moxley, Jason Moxley coached at Pfieffer and has been instrumental in the development of physical rebounding guards of Tobler’s type.