An Update on 2024 Drew McKenna’s Recruitment

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>2024 wing [player_tooltip player_id='1225253' first='Drew' last='McKenna'] launched onto the national radar last summer after a phenomenal showing at DMV Live during the June Live Period. Since then, the spotlight has been on him as power five programs begin to evaluate, recruit and with some, prioritize McKenna for their 2024 recruiting class. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Despite his team's struggles this season, McKenna proved himself as a guy who can carry the load on the offensive end. Coming into this high school season, a question for me surrounding McKenna was whether or not he had the alpha dog trait that separates good from great in prospects such as himself standing 6'8. It didn't take long for him to prove that he has the edge necessary to put up consistently high scoring performances against stiff competition. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>His junior season ended in a loss to Bishop McNamara in the Maryland Private School State Tournament, but not without McKenna pouring in 42 points, 31 of which came in the second half alone in the 69-62 loss. His ability to score from all three levels and in a variety of ways continues to improve each time I see McKenna live. He's getting better at using his body in the mid-post and his length to rise over his defenders on pull-ups or make heavily contested layups on either side of the basket. His three-point jumper is something of note and he can make the defense pay off the catch, off movement or off the bounce in these scenarios. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>As McKenna answered many of the questions surrounding him as a prospect this season, more high-major programs got involved in his recruitment. Butler, Xavier and VCU have established strong relationships based off consistency. Maryland would fall into that next tier at this point followed by Michigan, Gonzaga and Miami. The last three schools mentioned have yet to officially offer, but have ramped up communications as AAU season nears. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Ed Cooley didn't waste time after taking the job at Georgetown to offer McKenna. Former head coach Pat Ewing and his staff were one of the programs prioritizing him before losing the job, but the same effort is expected to come from Cooley's staff. Virginia Tech was making a real run at McKenna but now that they've received the commitment from 2024 wing AJ Swinton, their efforts have cooled off. Other programs who have begun reaching out to McKenna in hopes to establish a relationship include Kansas, Louisville, Wake Forest and NC State.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The list continues to grow and as McKenna gets set to take the floor with Team Loaded after spending the majority of his career with Team Melo, there is likely more programs that will join the sweepstakes.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In terms of a timetable, McKenna will likely exhaust his visits to get a clear picture of what every program has to offer him before ultimately coming to a decision. It'll be interesting to see how quickly he can adjust and what sort of role he will play for Loaded this spring. McKenna currently ranks as the No. 4 prospect in the 2024 MD/DC rankings, but will likely receive a bump in the update within the next few weeks. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://twitter.com/drewmcknna/status/1614704389108670470?s=20","type":"rich","providerNameSlug":"twitter","responsive":true} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/drewmcknna/status/1614704389108670470?s=20 </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed -->