Recruiting Report: Dawson Garcia (2020)
Dawson Garcia is a five-star forward from Prior Lake with a long list of offers and a huge amount of potential. This winter Prior Lake went 25-4 and finished ranked as the 6th team in Minnesota’s biggest class of basketball…
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Continue ReadingDawson Garcia is a five-star forward from Prior Lake with a long list of offers and a huge amount of potential.
This winter Prior Lake went 25-4 and finished ranked as the 6th team in Minnesota’s biggest class of basketball with Dawson leading the way at 27.5 points and 11 rebounds per game. That season has led to Garcia being invited to the NBPA Top 100 camp and representing Team USA at the World Cup in Mongolia this June.
At the moment Garcia is playing for the #1 ranked 17 and Under team in the nation according to PrepHoops.com and that’s D1 Minnesota, the proud owner of a 17-0 record. Dawson is the team’s leading scorer and most recruited player.
The offer list includes Minnesota, Baylor, Marquette, Texas, Xavier, Butler, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Nebraska, Oregon, Pitt, Purdue, Wisconsin, Ohio State, and a host of others. Many of these coaching staffs and more watched Garcia play with D1 Minnesota in Dallas during the Adidas Gauntlet in April (and likely this past weekend several tuned into Ballers TV to watch he and others compete in the Battle at the Lakes event in the Twin Cities). What did those coaches and others see from Garcia and the Minnesota program?
“We are playing really well,” Garcia said. “We haven’t lost a game yet and if we stay connected on the defensive end everything will take care of itself.
“It feels great to play like we do. Coach Al (Harris) always tells us before the game we are not a team where one guy needs to go out and get 30. We all know our capabilities and we all know how to play well together. That’s help us be the best team we are capable of being.”
Al Harris has consistently proved to be one of the better spring/summer coaches out there and he has a great group to work with. In addition to Dawson, the D1 Minnesota program also has nationally ranked prospects like Dawson, Ben Carlson, Kendall Brown, and Kerwin Walton plus others like Steven Crowl and Liberty committed Drake Dobbs.
“We want to try and end the spring and then the summer undefeated, that’s been a goal of ours,” Garcia explained. “We want to have some accomplishments that no other D1 Minnesota team or other Minnesota team has had before. We went through last month undefeated so, so far it’s a truly a blessing to play for this great team and organization with such great coaches.”
Garcia had several college programs visit at his home in Prior Lake, Minnesota.
“Minnesota came for a visit, Baylor has been by, Pitt’s been by, Cal has been by, Ohio State has been by, Arizona has been by, and I know I’m missing some others but there has been several programs in to meet,” Dawson said.
Garcia has been recruited at a high level for about 13 months, even since Texas was the first program to extend a scholarship offer during March of Dawson’s sophomore year. At this point is still appreciative of the recruiting process as compared to being tired of it.
“The NCAA does a great job of helping the student athlete with rules and restrictions,” Dawson stated. “It’s been fun, it does get overwhelming at times but it’s a really good problem to have. I’m blessed to be in that position.”
Dawson said he won’t be taking any more official visits while he is a junior in high school so the rest will come when he’s officially considered a senior.