Pro football camps have already opened in Cortland (New York Jets), Pittsford (Buffalo Bills) and Albany (New York Giants), and New York high school two-a-days for football commence on Aug. 16.
Coleman's soft hands and footwork wow college coaches.
Photo by Lonnie Webb
Without delay, then, here are the top returning male athletes from around New York appearing on our radar screen at the moment:
1. DaJuan Coleman (Jamesville-DeWitt basketball) – Forget about the Biblical story of David vs. Goliath. Anyone taking on the Red Rams this winter will need to prepare for Goliath’s big brother. Coleman, ranked in everyone’s national top five basketball recruits in the upcoming junior class, checks in at 6-foot-9 and 280 pounds.
He was the MaxPreps.com national basketball Sophomore of the Year in 2009-10.
What makes him problematic for opponents, however, is that Coleman hasn’t even figured out yet how to get the most out of his size. Rather, he has wowed observers in the past two seasons with graceful footwork and soft hands, attributes that helped him average 18 points a game as a sophomore.
A sprained ankle briefly derailed his AAU schedule, but Coleman has been a big attraction for scouts on the summer circuit and will almost certainly become the most recruited upstate big man of the last quarter century.
Coleman said recently his current list of potential suitors consists of Connecticut, Florida, Kentucky, Louisville, North Carolina, Ohio State, Pittsburgh, Syracuse and West Virginia. You can be certain there are 25 other Division I coaches prepared to drop whatever they are doing to come watch Coleman try to lead J-D to its fourth straight New York State Public High School Athletic Association Class A championship next March.
2. Jabarie Hinds (Mount Vernon basketball) – It was surprising enough that an eighth-grader could make the JV squad at Mount Vernon, but Hinds took it up another notch by being promoted to the varsity midway through the 2006-07 season. He’s been closely followed by fans and colleges since, and everyone loved what they saw in his junior season as the 5-11 point guard averaged 22.4 points and 4 assists a game.
An ankle sprain slowed Hinds this spring and he needs to add 8-10 pounds of muscle before he gets to college, but Hinds is the guy any high school coach would want running the team on the floor. He’s regarded as a bit of a student of the game and prefers “steady” over “flashy” even though he does have his charismatic moments on the court.
Someone in the ACC or Big East is about to land a four-year starter who’ll represent the school nicely both on and off the court.
3. Ishaq Williams (Lincoln, Brooklyn, football) – For a “basketball” town, New York City sure is producing some noteworthy football players lately. A year after defensive tackle Dominique Easley (Staten Island Curtis) was atop everyone’s must-have list before committing to Florida, Williams is wowing recruiters from coast to coast.
At 6-5, 225 pounds, Williams possesses both the frame to play defensive end and the speed to handle the coverage responsibilities of an outside linebacker. He could very well end up as the first PSAL player to be selected NYSSWA player of the year since Lincoln running back Frank Sinclair in 1993.
4. Tavon Sledge (Half Hollow Hills West basketball) – Colts coach Bill Mitaritonna raised some eyebrows in Glens Falls last spring by suggesting he had the two best players in the state. Tobias Harris, who’ll be a Tennessee freshman in the fall, lived up to top billing, and Sledge came pretty close to holding up his end of the daily double, though Jayvaughn Pinkston (Bishop Loughlin) and Will Regan (Buffalo Nichols) both rated higher on most objective scorecards.
Sledge is a relentless attacker on the point, adept at both scoring (17.8 points a game last winter) and distributing, and is also an explosive leaper. The flipside is that he’s sometimes too aggressive for his own good, accelerating his turnover count by driving into jams too often. Still, we’d buy a ticket to watch him play any day of the week.
5. Jim Liu (The Knox School) and Gavin Hall (Pittsford Mendon) – For a state that’s chock full of snow for a chunk of each year, New York is certainly churning out talented young golfers. Liu, 14 beat Hall, 15, in the U.S. Junior Amateur semifinals last month in Ada, Mich., and then captured the 36-hole final the following day to become the youngest champion in tournament history.
Both will be sophomores this fall, though their paths are unlikely to cross during the school year; The Knox School on Long Island is a member of the Association of Independent Schools, whose members generally don’t play against NYSPHSAA teams.
6. Bobby Duvnjak (Manhasset lacrosse) – At 6-feet and 200 pounds, this rising junior is destined to grow into the frame of a Division I college defender. He already has the skill set, as demonstrated by outstanding performances to help Manhasset to its second straight NYSPHSAA Class C championship. He clamps down on his man, delivers the appropriate amount of violence required of defenders in the fastest game on two feet and scoops up ground balls at will.
7. Elvin Soto (Xavier baseball) – Already committed to the University of Arizona if he chooses to go the college route, the switch-hitting catcher could be setting himself up for a $1 million pro signing bonus next June. Being selected to the Team USA Under-18 team this summer was a nice start in that direction, and scouts love his throwing arm.
8. Achraf Yacoubou (Long Island Lutheran basketball) – Yacoubou is made for the Big East, so his early commitment to attend Villanova a year from now was not much of a surprise. The 6-foot-5 wing player, who averaged 20 points a game as a junior, plays a rugged brand of ball. His ability to drive from the wing to create will be negated a bit by the size and speed of Big East competitors, but his perimeter shooting has been improving steadily and will eventually make him a valuable part of Wildcats coach Jay Wright’s toolbox. It helps, too, that he doesn’t treat rebounding as someone else’s responsibility.
9. Devon Cajuste (Holy Cross football) – The 6-4, 215-pound wideout averaged 23 yards per catch on 40 receptions (seven for TDs) last fall, which paved the way for Stanford to offer – and Cajuste to accept – a scholarship beginning in 2011. While not blazing fast in the tradition of shorter gunners, his 4.6 speed in the 40 makes him a desirable target for quarterbacks and has been enough to win his share of sprints for the track team. If he fills out the way some think he might (Cajuste’s father used to be a bodybuilder), this could end up being an extremely mobile tight end.
10. Otis Ubriaco (Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake distance running) – This being New York. it’s impossible to compile the top 10 without including a runner. Ubriaco is coming off an outstanding junior campaign that included the state Class A cross country crown, second place in the NYSPHSAA indoor 3,200 and first place at that distance at the outdoor championships.
Next best – Zavon Watkins (Liverpool track and field), Ashton Broyld (Rush Henrietta football), Michael Taylor, (Boys & Girls basketball), Quentin Gause (Bishop Kearney-Rochester football) and Chad Noelle (Greene distance running).
John Schiano, who has written about high school sports in western and central New York for more than 25 years, covers New York for MaxPreps. He may be reached at johnschianosports@gmail.com.
