Recruiting Update: Isaiah Sampson (2019 Camas HS)
There are a number of seniors in the Vancouver area college coaches are keeping an eye on this season and Isaiah Sampson is definitely one of them. The versatile 6-foot-5, 200-pound wing/forward is coming off an off-season where he played some high-profile AAU basketball and worked hard on his game. Sampson is hearing from schools at a number of different levels as he heads into his final year of prep basketball at Camas High School.
This past off-season, Sampson played with two separate AAU programs and enjoyed the experience. “I started in the spring with Team Fly and after a couple of tournaments I went over to Team Bradley,” Sampson said. “We went to New York and we played pretty well and I got a lot of minutes and then we went to LA and we did alright there but I felt I played pretty good. Just the experience of playing a lot of the top guys in the nation I thought was good for me.”
From an individual perspective, Sampson felt that the summer tournaments in particular were able to highlight one portion of his game. “I feel like my transition game was really good,” Sampson said. “We liked to get up and down a lot and I feel like I could score a lot of points just running the floor. I worked on my athleticism and getting more consistent with my three-point shooting.”
As noted, college programs at varying levels have been in touch with Sampson and are planning to watch him this season. He noted that he’s heard from Idaho, Northwest Nazarene, Lewis & Clark, and George Fox among others. He recently made a campus visit to George Fox and liked what he saw. “It was definitely better than what I expected,” Sampson said. “I like the campus and the community and their facilities are pretty good too. I like the coaching staff – (head coach) Maco (Hamilton) is someone I could see being my coach.”
Sampson is keeping all of his options at this point and will play out the season before making any decisions. He noted what he’s looking for a college program. “Probably not too big of a school – that’s just my preference,” Sampson said. “But somewhere that I can play my game pretty much.”
A good senior year will be key for Sampson and he’s feeling good about things both from a team perspective and individually. “I think we shoudl be pretty strong this year,” Sampson said. “We have about 6 to 7 seniors so we should be pretty strong. Our goal is to win league this year and that’s very possible for us – we’ll be pretty solid and we’ll surprise some people. As far as my stats go, I want to average a double double and just be a team leader.”
Sampson currently ranks as the #48 player in the PrepHoops Washington Class of 2019 rankings.