Class of 2018: Commitment Breakdown (Prep School/JC)
Pictured: Bostyn Holt
While many Class of 2018 standouts will get their four-year college careers started this fall, a number of others will take the prep school or junior college route first.
Here’s a list of those who will be playing a prep year.
Prospect | Height | Position | High School | Prep School |
Jay Elmore | 6’1 | PG | South Eugene | Kimball Union (N.H.) |
Bostyn Holt | 6’5 | SF | Roosevelt | Elite Prep (Wash.) |
Bo Quinlan | 6’4 | SG | Southridge | Hillcrest Prep (Ariz.) |
Kelton Samore | 6’8 | PF | Grant | Bridgton Academy (Maine) |
Breakdown:
Kelton Samore (ranked #5) had a couple of Division I offers in Colgate and UC San Diego, but has chosen instead to reopen his recruitment and attend Bridgton Academy in Maine. Chuka Mekkam (2017 Jesuit) played at Bridgton in 2017-18. Samore did not play AAU basketball this summer but did participate in West Coast Elite camp. Also heading to the Northeast is Jay Elmore (#14) to Kimball Union in New Hampshire. Elmore did play AAU basketball with Team Flight and impressed coaches who will be watching him his prep year.
Bo Quinlan (#40) will follow the lead of his older brother Zeke and play a prep season at Hillcrest in Arizona. Quinlan ran with Oregon Basketball club over the summer and picked up some Division II offers and Division I interest that will follow him in 2018-19. And Bostyn Holt (#15) will stay relatively close to home at Elite Prep in the Seattle area. Holt finished up the month of July playing with Team LaVine and had some spectacular moments, including one dunk that went viral on social media.
Going the junior college route will be Darius Guinn (#36) who signed with Central Wyoming, an NJCAA school. Oregon preps have found the JC route very successful in recent years, with Charles Jones (David Douglas ’16) and Khalid Thomas (West Linn ’17) as examples, both at College of Southern Idaho. Jones ended up earning NJCAA Player of the Year honors in 2017-18 and signed with Utah, while Thomas is currently ranked as high as the top JUCO player in the country for 2018-19 and should be signing with a major conference team as well. Guinn also has the advantage in that he is a full qualifier out of high school, so he could conceivably only spend one year at the JC level.
The other junior college signees are all in the NWAC – which we previously covered here. A couple of recent signings since that article that are notable include Robert Ford (#34) who signed with Clackamas, Dalton Renne (#20) who signed to play both baseball and basketball at Chemeketa, and K’Lum Strickland (2018 Jefferson) with Peninsula.