2008-09 MAXPREPS TOP 10 STORIES OF THE YEAR
Ranking: No. 2
What: Two of the nation’s highest profile athletes – San Diego basketball blue chip recruit Jeremy Tyler and Las Vegas baseball sensation Bryce Harper – are skipping the rest of their high school career to focus on the professional ranks.
When: Both made their decision in the spring.
Where: San Diego and Las Vegas.
How: Tyler plans to take his game to Europe instead of play his senior year at San Diego High and incoming Las Vegas High junior Harper has enrolled at College of Southern Nevada and plans to complete his GED high school credentials in the fall. Both believe these are better training grounds for pro careers.
Why significant?: Continues to devalue the high school sports experience and may set a precedent for top tier athletes.
MaxPreps Stories of the Year: A panel of six MaxPreps national writers established the top 10 stories of the year, and voted them in order in terms of national interest, importance and possible future significance.
Monday: No. 1 – A potential health epidemic shut down high school sports in Texas for three weeks and other pockets of the country as well.
Tuesday: Synopsis on all 10 stories as well as other year-in highlights and untold stories.
Wednesday: Gatorade announces its National Players of the Year.
JEREMY TYLER AND Bryce Harper have never met. They play different sports and live in different states.
But their routes to stardom may well be linked forever.
Tyler is physically freakish 6-foot-11, 258--pound basketball center, with major quickness, leaping ability and shooting touch.
Jeremy Tyler absolutely dwarfs high school competition.
Photo by Todd Shurtleff
Most have the incoming San Diego High senior listed among the top five 2010 recruits nationally and a possible NBA lottery selection in the 2011 or 2012 draft.
“He’s one of those guys who comes along once in a lifetime,” San Diego volunteer assistant Olden Polynice, a 15-year NBA veteran player, told the New York Times. “He has more upside than any player I’ve seen since LeBron.”
Funny, because Harper shares a comparison with James as well, even though he plays baseball.
The Las Vegas High sophomore catcher recently donned the cover of Sports Illustrated with the inscription: “Baseball’s Chosen One,” calling him the most exciting prodigy since James, who covered the same magazine as a high school phenom earlier this decade.
The magazine claims that the 16-year-old has hit a ball 570 feet and thrown one 96 mph. The 6-foot-3, left-hand hitter batted .626 with 14 home runs, 55 RBI and 36 stolen bases in 2009 and he’s been compared to Ken Griffey Jr., Alex Rodriguez and Justin Upton during their high school development.
One American League scouting director told Sports Illustrated that if Harper was in the just-completed major league draft in June he would have been a top five pick.
A National League scout disagreed strongly with the assertion. “He’d go higher than that,” he said.
With such off-the-charts talent and endless hyperbole, there seemed no more acclaimed high school athletes anywhere heading into the 2009-10 season.
But then they came to independent decisions in the spring.
Then they each took sharp shocking turns.
On April 22, Tyler announced he would skip his senior year in high school, rescind his commitment to Louisville and play professionally in Europe. He became the first United States-born player to leave high school early to play professionally overseas.
He averaged 28.7 points per game during a tumultuous junior campaign that featured two of his coaches getting fired over an alleged recruiting scam. San Diego, without another player taller than 6-2, finished 15-11.
Tyler said he was bored with the high school game and frustrated with the triple teams. He felt he wasn’t improving.
So he followed in the footsteps of 2007-08 MaxPreps Player of the Year Brandon Jennings who rescinded a scholarship offer to Arizona after his senior year to play overseas.
The move worked out well as Jennings made some $3-million and then was selected the 10th pick in the 2009 NBA draft by the Milwaukee Bucks last month.
The only difference here – and it’s a big one – is that Jennings graduated from high school – Oak Hill Academy (Va.).
Tyler is skipping his senior year. According to MaxPreps Basketball Writer Jason Hickman, Tyler might have been the No. 1 recruit from the Class of 2010.
"There is no clear, overwhelming No. 1 player in the 2010 class," Hickman said. "It wouldn't have been out of the question for Tyler to be that guy with a big summer and senior year."
Instead, Tyler has his sights on a bigger prize.
“Nowadays people look to college for more off-the-court stuff versus being in the gym and getting better,” Tyler told the New York Times. “If you’re really focused on getting better, you go play pro somewhere. Pro guys will get you way better than playing against college guys.”
Not in baseball however.
In an even more stunning announcement last month, Harper said he will skip his senior and junior year and that he registered at the College of Southern Nevada, where he plans to attend classes next month and play for the team next season.
In the fall he plans to complete the GED high school equivalency test and then enter the major league draft in either 2010 or 2011.
The minimum age for the major league draft is 16 upon completion of high school.
Harper’s parents told the Las Vegas Review Journal that it was their son’s idea and that they support the plan.
“Bryce is always looking for his next challenge,” Harper’s father Ron told the newspaper. “He’s going to get pushed academically and athletically. … I don’t see a problem with it. I think we’ve handled it the right way. I think it will be a great story.”
Maybe so. Most agree, both athletes will see greater competition in the routes they are taking.
But what about just enjoying high school life? Proms. Friendships. Common experiences with their peers?
Both athletes, however, seemed hell bent on getting to the highest point as quickly as humanly possible.
“There are going to be critics,” Ron Harper told the newspaper. “I can’t worry about what people think. I think this prepares him for life, playing the game of baseball. … People question your parenting and what you’re doing. Honestly, we don’t think it’s that big a deal. He’s not leaving school to go work in a fast-food restaurant.”
Besides that, Harper’s brother Bryan Harper, a 6-5 left-handed pitcher, is transferring from Cal State Northridge to College of Southern Nevada, so the brothers will be teammates.
And they’ll be playing for CSN coach Tim Chambers, a longtime family friend.
“It’s phenomenal because I get to play with my brother," Bryce said.
Said his dad: “My son is going to live with us and still eat at the same table. His brother will be a mentor to him. Why can’t it be a good story?”
Short term, both stories look extremely promising and positive, however unorthodox.
In the case of Tyler, Ohio State coach Thad Matta is more concerned how things will pan out later.
“I will be interested to see how this works out, not in two years, but in 10 years,” he told the New York Times. “The ultimate question is, do you want to make the NBA or have a career in the NBA.”
E-mail Mitch Stephens at mstephens@maxpreps.com.
