Recruiting Report: Antonio Hamlin (2022)
It isn’t often that the Mount St. Joseph Gaels come into the basketball season as a team that is overlooked, but after losing a talent such as Jalen Smith (Maryland), it seemed as if they would struggle to replace his…
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Continue ReadingIt isn’t often that the Mount St. Joseph Gaels come into the basketball season as a team that is overlooked, but after losing a talent such as Jalen Smith (Maryland), it seemed as if they would struggle to replace his production and size. What the Gaels did have was a hall-of-fame coach in Pat Clatchey and a slew of talented guards. One of those guards was a freshman by the name of Antonio Hamlin.
It took Hamlin some time to adjust to the varsity level, but by the end of the season, he was comfortable in his role and helped contribute to a 27-11 season that included a MIAA A Conference Championship appearance.
“I feel like we really proved a lot of people wrong this year,” Hamlin said as he reflected on his freshman season. “Coming into it, people were doubting us and saying that we weren’t good enough or didn’t have enough talent. We performed beyond expectations in my opinion.”
One reason why this year’s team was so successful was because players were willing to sacrifice to reach their goals as a group. Hamlin was one of those players.
“I played out of position for much of last season,” Hamlin told Prep Hoops. “But I’m one of those type of players that will do whatever my team needs me to do to win. Next year I think I’ll have a bigger role and be looked on to score more now that [James] Bishop is gone.”
Hamlin doesn’t have the body of a typical freshman guard. He stands 6-foot-1, but has the build of a football player and plays with that type of physicality. In portions of games, he was asked to guard the opposing team’s power forward and battle on the block. More times than not, Hamlin did so successfully. It spoke to Hamlin’s character considering he had been used as a scorer in his career leading up to this point.
“I was really used as the junkyard dog this year,” Hamlin said. “At first, it bothered me a little bit because I thought I’d have the ball in my hands a little bit more. I’ve been a scorer all of my life, but at the same time, I’ve been a dog all of my life so it was nothing new to me.”
With Bishop heading to LSU, there will be holes to fill once again with his Gaels team.
“I think someone will have to step up and be a leader,” Hamlin claimed. “I feel like we lack a solid every day leader and that’s what I’m going to hold myself to be. I also just don’t want to be a scorer, but an overall offensive threat. I wasn’t as much of a threat last year and that will change.”
For the time being, Hamlin will fine tune his skill set once again with Team Thrill’s 15U squad. It’s a team that is made up of many skilled guards and often times are undersized. Hamlin still has moments where he needs to match-up against frontcourt players, but offensively, he can showcase his full array of abilities to prepare for his bigger role next winter.
Hamlin and his team have gotten off to a strong start and as a result, he has received offers from Denver and Towson. Because of his versatility, toughness and mindfulness both on and off the floor, I expect his offer list to grow rapidly even prior to next high school season.