In-state schools have early lead for Forrest
Coming off a big high school season where he led his team to the semifinals in the state tournament, Chipley (Fla.) shooting guard Trent Forrest had a strong start to travel season playing for the Alabama Challenge in the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League (EYBL). At 6-foot-4, Forrest showed he could score when needed and that he possesses the versatility to affect the game in other ways as well.
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College coaches certainly took notice of his talent. When the clock struck midnight on June 15, the first day college coaches could begin calling and texting 2016 recruits, Forrest's phone began to ring off the hook.
"I've talked to Wichita State, UCF, Miami, Louisville, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Wake Forest, Murray State, Florida State and Stanford," Forrest said. "There have been a lot of schools. Pretty much all the in-state schools, Alabama and Wichita State have been in constant contact."
Many of the schools making contact with Forrest have already extended scholarship offers.
"I have 10 offers right now. Wichita State, Florida State, Murray State, UCF, Wake Forest, Tennessee, Oregon State, Miami, and UNLV have offered."
Three schools have already had the four-star prospect on campus, and more will likely have the chance in the upcoming months.
"So far, I've been to Alabama, Florida State and UCF. I probably won't take any more visits until football season. I know I want to see Louisville and I'll probably try to see some others. I've never been to an SEC game, so I'll get to one of those."
Florida State, roughly an hour from Forrest's hometown, has made it known early on that it would love to have Forrest as a part of their 2016 class.
"I can tell so far that they are going to keep it real with you and not sugarcoat anything. They just build good relationships. They have a good program. They have a good coaching staff and usually have good players."
Despite living in the Sunshine State, Forrest plays travel ball for the Alabama Challenge. The Challenge have sent a number of players to play for the Crimson Tide, and that fact isn't lost on Forrest.
"I usually talk to Coach [Anthony] Grant and Coach [Antoine] Pettway at Alabama. They are really cool and easy to get along with. My AAU coaches told me after this past year they will have had like 15 players go play at Alabama."
Forrest attended a team camp and an elite camp at Central Florida and enjoyed what he saw during his time there.
"It's really nice. They got great weather. The campus is really nice. The competition they play against now is really good. It's going to be a good conference with Connecticut and Memphis and all those other schools."
Still very early in the process, Forrest has made it clear that he's nowhere near making a commitment. However, a certain group of schools seem to have an edge on the others.
"The in-state schools are standing out because they are all close to home. Other than that, I haven't really thought about it too much. I want to get away, but I don't want to be too far away to where I can't ever come home."
Dan McDonald is a contributing national basketball recruiting analyst for Rivals.com. You can click here to follow him on Twitter.
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