[Sly Fox]

Here's a guy who is coming down from Maine:

York seeks spot with Div. 1 team
CAHS star to attend Liberty University

Thursday, June 01, 2006 - Bangor Daily News

Andrew York, a senior guard who led Central Aroostook of Mars Hill to back-to-back Class D boys basketball state championships in 2005 and 2006, will attempt to walk on to the basketball team at Division I Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., next fall.

"I talked to the coaches, and they asked for information and a highlight tape so I sent it to them," said the 6-foot-2 York, a third-team Bangor Daily News All-Maine honoree in 2006. "They told me they were excited about what they saw on it. They had already signed two guards so they didn't have any [scholarship money] for me, but they said I could walk on."

York, who plans to study physics or math with an eye toward eventually pursuing a master's degree in engineering, also considered a pair of Division II programs, Pfeiffer University in North Carolina and Colorado Christian, before opting for Liberty.

"Liberty was interested in me, and I know I'd be kicking myself later on if I didn't try Division I," said York, who attended a summer basketball camp at Liberty after his junior year.

York averaged 20.8 points and 5.3 rebounds last winter in helping Central Aroostook become the first Eastern Maine Class D boys' team to win back-to-back state championships since Jonesport-Beals won five gold balls in a row between 1970 and 1974.

He will try to earn a berth on a Liberty team that finished 7-23 overall, 3-13 in the Big South Conference. That conference also includes Birmingham-Southern, North Carolina-Ashville, Winthrop, High Point, Coastal Carolina, Virginia Military Institute, Radford and Virginia Military Institute.

Last year's 15-player Liberty roster included six freshmen, six sophomores and three juniors.

There is a pipeline of sorts between Maine and Liberty. Liberty head coach Randy Dunton is a Hermon native and graduate of Bangor Christian High School, and former Bangor High standout and current Brewer coach Mark Reed played collegiately at Liberty.

York, who finalized his plans to attend Liberty a week ago said he soon will receive a copy of the Flames' offseason workout regimen so he can abide by that this summer. He said he plans to run, lift and shoot several hundred shots a day to prepare for the start of official workouts next fall.

http://www.bangornews.com/news/templates/?a=135190

[TDDance234]

Interesting.

Don't see how he fits considering we're already 5 deep at gaurd, going to be interesting to see how the minutes play out.

[A.G.]

Here's how he fits. Two words
Practice.
Player.

[Hold My Own]

you never know, think back to all the walk on's that we've had that actually came through and played great ball for us....most of them were "Invited Walk-on's" but it sounds like this may be the same case

[Libertine]

Look, it's real simple. The local paper writes an article about a local standout.
There's a couple of telling points here though:

York also considered a pair of Division II programs, Pfeiffer University in North Carolina and Colorado Christian, before opting for Liberty.

What a coup! No other D-I's mentioned. I don't know how big Class D is in Maine but the kid averaged 20 & 5 in a public high school in the state's largest city, led the team to a state championship and is only a 3rd-team honoree. I'm guessing Class D is pretty small.

"They told me they were excited about what they saw on it. They had already signed two guards so they didn't have any [scholarship money] for me, but they said I could walk on."

I'm sorry but coaches say that to everybody they don't want to sign. I'll bet they said he could clean the lockers if he wanted, too.

The upshot is, if this kid hangs tough, works real hard, goes the extra mile, blahblahblah, then maybe one day, just maybe one day, if there's six seconds left in the game and the margin is somewhere north of 25, Dunton just maybe might get him out there.

[SuperJon]

Puh-feiffer is a good school.

[Sly Fox]

Its time now for the inevitable Scar storytelling from back in the day.

[Brokeback Flamer]

Mark Reed + Randy Dunton + Maine = Super Walk On. RD isnt' going to shun one of his players players( Huh) If I were him I would look at Colorado Christian. BEAUTIFUL and used to (back in the day ) have a good program.

[LU'sbestmanger]

i dont know if any of you have seen kyle play, but he's pretty good and in my opinion he's our best walk on. i think he'll be the only one to get a jersey unless this kid is better.

well at home this year we did dress 15.... so he might have a shot. look out for moe barry also

[Brokeback Flamer]

i dont know if any of you have seen kyle play, but he's pretty good and in my opinion he's our best walk on. i think he'll be the only one to get a jersey unless this kid is better.

well at home this year we did dress 15.... so he might have a shot. look out for moe barry also

Is that like saying you are the tallest midget? Or the career leader in homers.......in the minor leagues!! I am sure this kid has some talent, hopefully he doesn't have stars in his eyes.

[grm]

Obviously, you guys don't know the talent pool in Maine. Me & Dunton have whipped 2 on 2 teams from every state in the union -
well... that was right after the Revolutionary War.

[PAmedic]

welcome back, young man.

[grm]

Thanks - I'll try to stay with it. It's amazing... basketball sesason is right around the corner. What about the Heat? I'm one of those guys who thought Kobe had too much ego, and am glad to see Shaq appear to be happy with Wade & Co. Anyway, "Flames, follow the lead of the Heat!"

[demondeac]

This kid is good. Hard worker good athlete, skilled shooter, but also knows how to get the ball to his teammates. Very coachable . He will be a great practice player, pushing the first team hard during his first year. He should earn some playing time. He won the shooting contest at a Wake Forest Basketball camp that he attended a couple of years ago. Part of his daily work out routine is to run to the top of a 1700' mountain.

[Sly Fox]

That's for info, demondeac. With as much turnover as we are having right now on the roster, the more players we can find the better.

And thanks for finding the board. We'd love to have you stick around.

[A Guest]

What a coup! No other D-I's mentioned. I don't know how big Class D is in Maine but the kid averaged 20 & 5 in a public high school in the state's largest city, led the team to a state championship and is only a 3rd-team honoree. I'm guessing Class D is pretty small.

Central Aroostook is in northern maine and one of the smallest schools in Class D. Class D schools in Maine are very small, the enrollment is anywhere from 60-250. I went to high school for 2 years at a Class D school in Maine before moving to Florida.

[Furnace Fan]

I am with the majority about a player coming out of a small NE school and making a splash. I am surprised that the coaches would say you can walk on. Isn't my recollection that walk on's have to try out? I realize that Coach has ties to Maine, but c'mon. I bet there will be 20 players trying out.

There is one reason why you never give up on hard working players. A couple of years ago U. of Vermont (small D 1) had a player who not even recruited out of a VT HS. He redshirted his freshmen year and after that he eventually led his team to back to back NCAA bids and a win over 'Cuse. His name Taylor Coppenrath. Read his bio. online. You never know.

[TIMSCAR20]

You have a couple of different classifications of walk on. A walk on can be recruited actually. Anyone that is not on scholarship is called a walk on. There are guys that were recruited by schools but then decided too late to come and they ran out of scholarship money. At that point the coach can say that he can come as a walk on and pay his own way. The second type is an invited walk on. That is what I was. I was not on scholarship (at first) but I was on the team from day 1. I practiced, ran, lifted ate and did everything the team did but I was a practice player and eventually dressed and played in 4 games that cost me a whole season. This kid sounds like he is an invited walk on. The final type is a pure walk on. A cattle call tryout is held where hundreds of kids show up for 1 or 2 spots that are usually practice player spots as most rosters are full of scholarship athletes before these tryouts are even allowed to take place. 99% of these type of walk ons never see the light of day. Coppenrath was mentioned but Steve Kerr at Arizona is one of the more notable walk ons in NCAA history.

[LU'sbestmanger]

allen iverson learned his crossover from a walk on at george town!

[Purple Haize]

allen iverson learned his crossover from a walk on at george town!

Ummm, pretty sure he knew the cross over dribble LONG before G'town. (Also, how to accurately nail the 7 - 10 split!!)

[grm]

We might remember the "basketball camps" and summer leagues in this day and age. Because of these, a "D" player from Maine has opportunity
to play against big time high school players, giving coaches a more accurate evaluation.