Mid-July Recruiting Notebook

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><br>State Champion <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1943896' first='Nickalai' last='Anderson'] </strong>holds four offers: Freed-Hardeman University, Lenoire-Rhyne, John Brown University, Calhoun Community College.<br><br>"I'm currently talking to Lipscomb, Belmont, Columbia, Purdue, App State, Boston University, EKU, Jacksonville, Lee, IWU [and more]," shared Anderson.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:separator --> <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" /> <!-- /wp:separator --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Crown College offered senior <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2869668' first='Cole' last='Winters']</strong> (Beech HS). Crown College is a small, private D3 college in Minnesota. Last season Crown's Polars featured two guys from southeastern United States, both from Georgia. Crown College also plays NCCAA DII, which is The&nbsp;<strong>National Christian College Athletic Association</strong>&nbsp;(<strong>NCCAA</strong>) is an association of&nbsp;Christian&nbsp;universities,&nbsp;colleges, and&nbsp;Bible colleges&nbsp;in the&nbsp;United States&nbsp;and&nbsp;Canada. In 2024 Crown College won the National Championship in NCCAA DII. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Winters is a 6-foot-3 wing guard with a nice G.P.A. Winters is shifty with some guile and originality to his game. "I have talked to Coach Fawbush at Welch College about taking a visit," shared Winters Sunday night.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Welch College also competes in NCCAA.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:separator --> <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" /> <!-- /wp:separator --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1959160' first='Trey' last='Thompson'] </strong>(Greeneville) moved to Iowa City, Iowa last week. Remember [player_tooltip player_id='1959160' first='Trey' last='Thompson'] was ranked #2 and likely going to compete for 3A Mr. Basketball in 2025-2026, but elected to commit to the University of Iowa as a Class of 2025 player hooper instead of prolonging his high school career another year. Interestingly, Thompson passed on '26 offers from Kansas, Tennessee, and Purdue. His options were many and they were prominent programs. Iowa is enjoying the new hiring of former Drake University Head Coach Ben McCollum. His team finished 31-4 and defeated Mizzou in the NCAA Tournament this past March. His star is on the ascendancy and signing [player_tooltip player_id='1959160' first='Trey' last='Thompson'] over Purdue and others shows he is serious about competing right away.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:separator --> <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" /> <!-- /wp:separator --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2767423' first='Kipras' last='Redeckas'] </strong>earned an offer from University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown. Kipras was born in Lithuania and moved to the United States to attract college attention. It is starting to pay off as this first offer will surely be followed by some more after his July AAU portion. Redeckas runs with Hawks Elite 17u. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://twitter.com/Redeckas_23/status/1906616780832829854","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/Redeckas_23/status/1906616780832829854 </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:separator --> <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" /> <!-- /wp:separator --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2236641' first='Kaden' last='Matthews']</strong> (Smyrna) is getting quite a bit of interest from junior colleges, but unlike some recruits he will not need to attend JuCo to qualify academically. Matthews is a good student. Division II schools are putting in the work of evaluating and communicating with him. Both Trevecca Nazarene University and University of Alabama-Huntsville "have been on my trail for a long time, watching my games," said Kaden. [player_tooltip player_id='2236641' first='Kaden' last='Matthews'] also plays with Hawks Elite AAU.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:separator --> <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" /> <!-- /wp:separator --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2345574' first='Brayden' last='Hazelbaker'] </strong>(Knox Webb) added an offer from University of Virginia-Wise. Hazelbaker will play his final high school season with Knox Webb, the reigning State Champions after being a Maryville High guy throughout. Hazelbaker is a speedy lead guard. Webb does not really feature the point guard as prominently as most programs and they are all asked to shoot the three-pointer. Brayden will be joining a tremendous team, perhaps a team favored to win it all once again.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:separator --> <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" /> <!-- /wp:separator --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2139567' first='Avery' last='Coles'] </strong>(White House Heritage) added an offer from Calhoun Community College.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:separator --> <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" /> <!-- /wp:separator --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Rumors around Memphis are percolating that St. George's is going to get <strong>Cello Jackson</strong>. That is not true. However, some believed Cello, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1549096' first='MJ' last='Hayes']</strong>, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2283274' first='Antonio' last='McGaughey']</strong>, and others were going to reunite for Dee Wilkes and figure out how to capture their second State Championship. Previously they won with FACS and Coach Wilkes earned his current job from that success. Then many of his players scattered to other states. Again, this is NOT true and Cello is still attending Columbus High in Florida.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->