During the NCAA Evaluation Period (May 17-19), many of Arizona's top rated prospects helped themselves a great deal in their current and future college recruitment. With numerous different shoe circuits now available for club programs to compete on throughout the spring and summer, many more prospects are now benefiting from the exposure to college coaches. One prospect that took full advantage of this opportunity was Eduprize Prep's talented and versatile 6-foot-8 junior wing Andre Thomas. After a strong junior season for himself and emerging with a loaded Eduprize Prep program, Thomas competed with a talented Peak Basketball Academy 17U program in Indianapolis @ the New Balance Prelude League Session I event, and emerged nicely as one of the top overall performers and prospects from the event.
Thomas, an unheralded prospect before his emergence with the Peak program this spring, is a very lengthy and rangy wing prospect that can play inside and out, and has tremendous versatility and upside as a player. Thomas' tremendous upside and play showed throughout the event, raised a lot of eyebrows of scouts, media and college coaches in attendance. Enough for Thomas to receive his first Division-I offer in the recruiting process, as NAU and Head Coach Shane Burcar made an offer to Thomas following his performance over the weekend. This is a very nice offer for Thomas, who should generate much more recruiting interest throughout the summer, as a result, but an NAU opportunity would seem to fit him nicely.
Not to be confused with his Eduprize teammate, AJ Thomas, who is currently playing for a loaded West Coast Elite UAA program and is also generating loads of Division-I interest as of late, Andre Thomas has now emerged in his own right, as he has waited for some time to generate recruiting interest for himself. With the Peak Basketball program, Thomas has been able to show his high level of versatility on both ends of the floor, as he is also a very versatile defender that can block and alter shots, rebound outside of his area on the floor and guard bigs, as well as wings. Offensively, Thomas can score inside and out and also has a good mid-range game that makes him very effective in the half-court set. He exudes versatility and upside and is an excellent sleeper prospect for college programs to pursue.
Thomas' play this spring has him now regarded as one of the top overall sleeper prospects nationally on the New Balance Prelude shoe circuit, which should allow him to pick up loads of more recruiting interest over time.
Thomas is well deserving of this attention now, as he has worked hard to get here. He has a nice personality that is unassuming. He is a quiet kid, and simply works hard and competes. He is a definite sleeper prospect now on the rise, and should make a nice introduction into our NEW up-and-coming 2025 Individual Player Rankings for the class (soon to be released).
I will continue to follow Thomas as a player this summer, and look forward to bringing you more recruiting updates regarding him as they continue to develop.
