When I said in the spring that Saguaro High School's Jared Martin would have a big spring and summer, I meant in terms of his college recruitment. Late last week when the gifted, sharp-shooting rising senior prospect decided to transfer schools for his senior season, it made for a very big summer for Martin.
When Martin, a 6-foot-5, 195-pound rising senior guard prospect made his decision to leave Saguaro HS last week, it proved a new trend that has been taking place in the state, as more and more top-rated student athletes are leaving high school programs in Arizona to play for high-profile prep schools with national schedules.
Each student-athlete's reasoning for leaving schools is different, of course, but the lure to play against better competition daily and play a national schedule has become too great for some prospects to pass up. The opportunity also to be recruited at a higher level is also very attractive for many of Arizona's top prospects. The state of Arizona has been a highly underrecruited state for many years, but the recent development of prep schools in the valley and abroad has been tremendous for the current culture of Arizona high school basketball.
Recently, top-rated 2018 prospect KJ Hymes left St. Mary's High School to finish his high school basketball career at Hillcrest Prep Academy. Hymes already possesses more than 20 different division-I offers, so the change of schools for him was different altogether. Other top-rated national prospects such as Josh Green left Mountain Ridge's basketball program last season for an opportunity to play for Hillcrest Prep as well. Green has developed into one of the top 25 prospects in America's 2019 class by ESPN.
Arizona Preps has also learned recently that top-rated Arizona 2018 prospect Tevian Jones could be leaving Chandler High School for his senior season, and could be relocating to the state of California for his senior season. Jones has played for California Supreme (CA) the last two club seasons.
Jared Martin leaves Saguaro HS with numerous offers on the table for himself from such schools as UC-Santa Barbara, Loyola Marymount, Northern Arizona, Montana State and Cal-State Northridge. He will look to gain more recruiting momentum during his senior season while playing for talented head coach Billy McKnight and a strong Prolific Prep (CA) program.
Martin had made the biggest jump in our recent player rankings for Arizona's 2018 class of prospects (Arizona Hoop Review Scouting Report). Martin also helped lead his club program, Powerhouse Hoops Black, to a strong club season performance, which included a tournament championship at this year's Baylor All-Star Classic in Chicago, Illinois - defeating the historic Mac Irvin Fire in the event's championship game.
"Prolific Prep will help me further develop and prepare myself for college," said Martin regarding his recent decision to transfer schools.
Good luck from our Arizona Preps' staff for Martin on his future at Prolific Prep this high school season. He will definitely be missed this high school season from Arizona, as he is a nice talent and an even better young man. We will continue to follow him as a player and also follow his college recruitment and decision for college.
Arizona Hoop Review Scouting Report: Martin is rated by our staff as the best pure shooter of the basketball in Arizona's 2018 class. His ability to shoot the basketball, combined with his size, overall offensive skillset and feel for the game, make him a very intriguing prospect for college programs across the country. Martin is a guard prospect with excellent size and a nice offensive skillset, which allows him to make shots from almost anywhere on the floor. He has a sweet shooting stroke with excellent range, which makes him very difficult to defend for opposing guards. He is a very good ball handler and passer that sees the floor, making him fundamentally sound - his best attribute as a player. Martin is also very deceivingly athletic. His nice bounce off the floor makes him a much more attractive prospect. A good team defender that can also play passing lanes. A good passer of the basketball that sees the floor and knows how to play the game. A very good, fundamentally sound prospect that will help any team looking to stretch the defense. Has a high basketball IQ. Transferring to Prolific Prep (CA) for his senior season.
