With the spring evaluation period coming in April and college coaches across the country looking to finalize their rosters for next season, college coaches are looking to get a jump on their recruiting of the 2016 class. While many college coaches around the country often look for post talent late, this year division-I college programs seem to be most interested in signing a quality point guard prospect.
As a result, the state of Arizona has not disappointed, as there are several high-major division-I prospects at the guard position still available in the 2015 class. Planet Athlete's 6-foot-3 senior guard Sammy Thompkins, Hillcrest Academy 6-foot-3, 200-pound prep guard Lyrik Shreiner and Shadow Mountain High School's 6-foot-4 senior guard Craig Randall have each received loads of high-major division-I interest as of late.
While things did not work out for Thompkins on the Sunnyslope basketball team this season, he is still currently attending classes at Sunnyslope and is on pace to graduate in the spring. Thompkins, however, is competing for a loaded Planet Athlete program coached by Eric Bowman. Thompkins is receiving loads of Division-I interest as of late, with numerous high-major programs now looking to get involved.
Recently, St. Johns, Utah, Washington State, USC, Cal, Colorado and Purdue have expressed serious interest in recruiting Thompkins this spring, while he still currently has scholarship offers from Rice, San Jose State, Sam Houston, Cal Poly and UC-Davis. He is also still receiving strong interest from such schools as Oregon State, Gonzaga, Iowa State, Nebraska, Tulsa, Nevada, Grand Canyon, Saint Mary’s, Cal-State Northridge, Mississippi State, Pepperdine, Weber State and Northern Arizona.
Thompkins will look to make his decision this spring and plans to take several visits before reaching a decision. He is planning to take a visit to St. Johns and Utah in the coming weeks.
Shadow Mountain High School's 6-foot-4, 165-pound senior guard prospect Craig Randall burst onto the Arizona high school recruiting scene immediately after moving to the state of Arizona last summer. A native of Ohio, Randall has quickly developed into one of the elite unsigned senior prospects in the state this season.
Currently an unsigned prospect, Randall is hearing from such schools as St. Johns, Wisconsin, Texas Christian, Ole Miss, Saint Mary's and San Diego, with many more schools looking to get involved late in the recruiting process. Randall does not have a clear leader at this point, and is still unclear as to when he will make his college decision. Look for offers to begin to pour in for this talented prospect as we near the spring evaluation period. Randall is planning an official visit to St. Johns in the coming weeks.
Hillcrest Academy 6-foot-3 prep guard Lyrik Shreiner recently transferred back to Arizona from spending a semester at Fishburne Military Academy in Virginia, one of the top post-graduate basketball programs in the country. Shreiner was one of the top prospects in the West last season, while playing as a senior at Westwind Prep Academy.
Shreiner had many offensive outbursts last season, but none was more impactful than his scoring explosion where he exploded for 65 points – breaking the Arizona high school state scoring record on 26 for 27 shooting from the field in the game. Shreiner also recorded a team-high 24 points in a narrow road loss to top-ranked Findlay Prep (NV) – a game in which he also held top-rated nationally ranked Kelly Oubre (Kansas signee) to 7 points.
As a result, Shreiner saw his college recruitment soar last spring. Shreiner reeled in offers from Louisville, Baylor, UCONN, Missouri, Memphis, Washington, Washington State, Cincinnatti, Oregon, UTEP and San Diego.
Last spring, Shreiner had considered Cincinnatti, Washington State, and even a late push from the University of Oregon, but in the end Shreiner chose to attend to spend another year in prep school to prepare himself. Currently, Shreiner is receiving strong interest from Texas Christian, Washington State, USC, Colorado and Cal. Look for one of these programs to turn up the heat very soon on Shreiner, as he is planing to take an official visit to TCU in the coming weeks.
These three point guard prospects are generating loads of interest as of late, and have many college programs taking a strong look at each of them. Look for each of these young men to make the spring evaluation period very interesting this spring.
