A Sea Of Red

The Flames have 2 commitments so far from Darius McGhee and Blake Preston

McGhee - http://www.aseaofred.com/flames-offer-2 ... us-mcghee/
Preston - http://www.aseaofred.com/flames-pick-up ... e-preston/

Pending offers to 3 prospects:
PG Isaiah Payton
SG Kyler Edwards
PF Trey Jemison

http://www.aseaofred.com/basketball-prospects/

Scholarship Grid - http://www.aseaofred.com/1786-2/

It's really something to see McKay work on the recruiting circuit. Since he's been at Liberty, he generally gets who he wants.

His first recruiting class back, he targeted Cabbil and Atencia. Check and check.

Last year, his main focus was on Gardner. Check.
He also targeted Barmore, Georgie and Josiah.

In the 2017 class, he offered 5 prospects and got 4 of the 5 to sign. The only one he missed on was Jarrod West who committed to Marshall.

So far for 2018, he's targeted McGhee and Preston and they've both committed.
Only 3 other offers outstanding in Payton, Edwards, and Jemison. I'm not even sure if he's still going after Payton as he was offered before Georgie came on to the scene and before McGhee committed. If either Edwards or Jemison commits, this is arguably one of the best classes in school history, at least in recent memory.

We have a great shot with Kyler from what I hear, Kelvin is really pushing Liberty.

I agree, land Kyler and on paper this is the best recruiting class in Liberty's history. I believe the staff backed off Jemison along with Payton.

ballah09 wrote:We have a great shot with Kyler from what I hear, Kelvin is really pushing Liberty.

I agree, land Kyler and on paper this is the best recruiting class in Liberty's history. I believe the staff backed off Jemison along with Payton.

I would back off Payton and Jemison as well. We technically do not need those two if we stay focus on McGhee and Preston. All we need is Edwards and we have ourselves a blessed 2018-19 season and beyond. As for me, I'm excited for the 2017-18 season. We will have more exposer as the team heads to the Virgin Islands a.k.a my place of birth. I mention this because for some reason I feel some changes are coming in the near future with conferences (possibly 5-7 years from now). It would be nice to see Liberty submit to the A10 if a couple teams transition to the Big East (right now this is just a thought since the BE commissioner stated it could be a possibility in the future to make the conference even successful).

Trey Jemison and Isaiah Payton have been removed from our list of open offers on verbalcommits. As it is we will still need to open up a scholarship to sign Kyler Edwards. I have a pretty good idea how that would go down.

http://www.verbalcommits.com/schools/liberty

Jemison was a long shot to begin with, and with high major programs with outspoken christian coaches like Avery Johnson at Bama and Bryce Drew at Vandy in the mix, a large part of the edge we might have otherwise had in recruiting this committed christian kid is diminished. My bet is he ends up a Commodore because of Drew and his staff and the academics at Vandy. Kid is also a top student with an offer from Stanford
Payton is a nice PG, but we have no room with Georgie and Darius on board.

So, our recruiting efforts for 2018 are now focused on one player, Kyler Edwards, and I'm sure Ritchie and co. have let him know exactly that. I love our chances.

Darius McGhees numbers in travel ball this Spring.



Team Loaded obviously IS loaded (thus the limited PT) but scoring a point a minute and shooting 48% from 3 is IMPRESSIVE.

Darius McGhee finishes 2nd in the high jump at the VISAA state meet, clearing 6'6". That's 9" over his head.

He would be only 3 3/4 inches off of qualifications for NCAA regionals at that height

BJWilliams wrote:He would be only 3 3/4 inches off of qualifications for NCAA regionals at that height

And I think I can pretty safely say he cleared that height on strictly raw athletic ability. Blue Ridge does not have a dedicated track coach, and Darius has been playing travel hoops for Team Loaded NC this Spring. He just participates in track to help the team.

So he probably could clear 6-9 or 6-10 with some coaching...be a nice cross training opportunity for him

BJWilliams wrote:So he probably could clear 6-9 or 6-10 with some coaching...be a nice cross training opportunity for him

I'm sure he has the physical talent to go higher than that, but since his future is college BASKETBALL, there is not much reason to devote the time and effort to pursue it. As far as a cross training benefit is concerned, I don't see it. He should be (and no doubt is) doing specific training to develop his vertical jump for basketball. He won't need to clear any bars out there on the court.

oldflame wrote:

BJWilliams wrote:So he probably could clear 6-9 or 6-10 with some coaching...be a nice cross training opportunity for him

I'm sure he has the physical talent to go higher than that, but since his future is college BASKETBALL, there is not much reason to devote the time and effort to pursue it. As far as a cross training benefit is concerned, I don't see it. He should be (and no doubt is) doing specific training to develop his vertical jump for basketball. He won't need to clear any bars out there on the court.

I dunno. He could do both. It would come down to his coaches agreeing and his desire to do so. If you have the talent and desire I don't see why not

Purple Haize wrote:

oldflame wrote:

BJWilliams wrote:So he probably could clear 6-9 or 6-10 with some coaching...be a nice cross training opportunity for him

I'm sure he has the physical talent to go higher than that, but since his future is college BASKETBALL, there is not much reason to devote the time and effort to pursue it. As far as a cross training benefit is concerned, I don't see it. He should be (and no doubt is) doing specific training to develop his vertical jump for basketball. He won't need to clear any bars out there on the court.

I dunno. He could do both. It would come down to his coaches agreeing and his desire to do so. If you have the talent and desire I don't see why not

I would say if the young man has the desire to pursue both sports and maximize his potential in the HJ, by all means he should. I don't get that impression, since he has been on the road playing AAU basketball much of the Spring. I believe his HS basketball coach also coaches the track team. I'm thinking he threw on a uni and went out there and jumped 6'6" for Good Old Blue Ridge because...... well, because he COULD.

There is a risk involved though. High jumpers get injured quite a bit. The moment of transfer from horizontal to vertical puts tremendous strain on the ankle, knee and hip joints, and the way you have to contort to clear the bar and the landing are all opportunities to get hurt.

Looks like Liberty commit Blake Preston is going to be the go-to guy inside for Charlotte Christian next year. His 6'8" teammate, VT commit BJ Mack, is transferring to Oak Hill Academy.

Talk about a million to one situation; the starting PG on Darius McGhee's state championship team at Blue Ridge School, Josh Colon, is Georgie Pacheco's backup on the Puerto Rico U19 national team.

Kyler Edwards is in GA doing unofficial visits. GT today and UGA tomorrow.

Apparently before leaving TX, Kyler made a stop in Lubbock, and we can now add Clemson on Sat. to his itinerary. He is moving in the right direction. Lynchburg on Sunday would make sense. We have no way of knowing, but it would seem logical for him to be traveling with his dad.

Correction: Apparently he is visiting both UGA and Clemson today.

We can now add an NBA legend to the list of competitors for Kyler's services. New Georgetown coach Patrick Ewing has offered.

oldflame wrote:We can now add an NBA legend to the list of competitors for Kyler's services. New Georgetown coach Patrick Ewing has offered.

That is pretty cool. I hope one day Liberty can play Georgetown if politics do not deeply get in the way. Although I hope Kyles has a wonderful time when he visits Liberty.

cruzan_flame13 wrote:

oldflame wrote:We can now add an NBA legend to the list of competitors for Kyler's services. New Georgetown coach Patrick Ewing has offered.

That is pretty cool. I hope one day Liberty can play Georgetown if politics do not deeply get in the way. Although I hope Kyles has a wonderful time when he visits Liberty.

You are aware that LU and Georgetown have played each other in hoops recently aren't you?

Purple Haize wrote:

cruzan_flame13 wrote:

oldflame wrote:We can now add an NBA legend to the list of competitors for Kyler's services. New Georgetown coach Patrick Ewing has offered.

That is pretty cool. I hope one day Liberty can play Georgetown if politics do not deeply get in the way. Although I hope Kyles has a wonderful time when he visits Liberty.

You are aware that LU and Georgetown have played each other in hoops recently aren't you?

No I'm not, or I wouldn't have sent that comment. I stop watching sports for a few years although I'd hear updates once in awhile.

Interesting comment on Kyler's twitter about the socialmedia campaign the Texas Tech fans are directing at him.

We can now officially call Kyler a 4 star recruit. ESPN has joined 247.

http://www.espn.com/college-sports/bask ... er-edwards

Well, so much for Kyler Edwards getting our undivided attention for 2018. We have just offered Kristian Sjolund, a 6'8" Norwegian SF who is playing HS ball in Katy, TX. He is rated 4 stars by both Scout and ESPN. Lights out shooter with very deep range.

http://www.scout.com/college/basketball ... an-sjolund
http://www.espn.com/college-sports/bask ... an-sjolund
http://www.verbalcommits.com/players/kristian-sjolund

oldflame wrote:Well, so much for Kyler Edwards getting our undivided attention for 2018. We have just offered Kristian Sjolund, a 6'8" Norwegian SF who is playing HS ball in Katy, TX. He is rated 4 stars by both Scout and ESPN. Lights out shooter with very deep range.

http://www.scout.com/college/basketball ... an-sjolund
http://www.espn.com/college-sports/bask ... an-sjolund
http://www.verbalcommits.com/players/kristian-sjolund

He is a good player and in a way I don't blame McKay and the coaches for giving out this offer. In my opinion, I sort of seeing Kyler staying close to home. I know his dad is an alumni and all, but Kyler looks like a kid who would want to near to family and friends. In the end I hope Kyler makes the best decision and it would be nice to have either of these guys.