Recruiting Report: Isaiah Speelman (2018)
At the moment, Hilliard Bradley’s 6’6” wing, Isaiah Speelman (2018), has offers from Northwood, Malone, Mount Vernon Nazarene, Cedarville, Urbana, and Anderson, with Wheeling Jesuit, Hillsdale, and West Liberty lurking.
That’s a lot of Division II and NAIA options to sort through for the productive sharp-shooter from central Ohio. He’ll be taking a couple visits next week, in order to help speed up a decision.
“I’m going to go visit Hillsdale and Malone. And then, after that, I’m probably going to make my decision pretty soon. So I’m going to have to start cutting down the list,” Speelman told Prep Hoops.
Speelman later clarified that the Hillsdale visit will come on Monday, with Malone following shortly on Wednesday. He also laid out an ideal timetable for when his college decision will come.
“I’m hoping like mid-October, honestly. Because then, all my focus will be towards school and basketball,” Speelman said.
As mentioned, Wheeling Jesuit, West Liberty, and Hillsdale, are all still possible landing spots for Speelman, despite not having an offer from those schools yet. Amongst that group, it seems that Speelman has become especially familiar with West Liberty.
“I have visited West Lib twice now. So, I think they’re just kind of also recruiting a few other guys. So they’ve probably brought them up as well. They will probably make a decision on who they want to offer soon.”
“Then, Wheeling Jesuit, we might set-up a visit with them in early October. But we haven’t had anything set-up yet,” Speelman said.
The last time we spoke with Speelman, he identified academics as an important factor that he’ll be considering. He double-downed on that again, but added another important quality that he’ll look for in a school.
“For me, it’s going to be fit, more than anything. That just includes, obviously academics and a good program, but then just a fun college experience where there’s good people,” Speelman said. He currently holds a 3.8-3.9 GPA and a 23 score on the ACT.
When Speelman makes his decision, he’ll join Hilliard Bradley teammate, Braden Norris, as the second senior on the team committed to a school before the season. With the recruitment out of the way, the senior duo will be able to focus completely on having a successful season.
“My expectations are really high. You know, it’s me and Braden’s last go-around and we feel like we have a really, really awesome group of guys with us. I mean, I think we can really, really make a run in the tournament. We’re all really confident and we’re working really hard at that. I think, we have just as much as anyone in the state. So, we’re confident that we can make a really, really deep tournament run,” Speelman said.
He’s not the only one that thinks that either. Fans can expect to hear a lot about Hilliard Bradley this season, as the seniors have some emerging underclassmen who will contribute a lot at the varsity level next season.