Leuer emerging as a hot commodity

Every spring and summer an unknown player emerges and establishes himself as a high-major prospect. Since returning home from the Jayhawk Invitational, Jon Leuer, the 6-foot-10, 215-pound power forward from Orono (MN) High School has become one of the most talked about recruits in the class of 2007. High-major programs from across the United States are calling on the Minnesota big man.

"Jon's recruitment is kind of escalating right now," said Mike Leuer, Jon's father. "Virginia, West Virginia, Vanderbilt, Purdue, North Carolina, Kansas and Wake Forest are some of the new schools that have called and asked about Jon. Some other schools have called, but those are the ones that I remember off the top of my head.

"Jon had a good tournament at the Houston Kingwood Classic and the Jayhawk Invitational," he added. "He has grown 9-10 inches in the last two years. I took Jon to get measured in April of 2004, and he was 6-foot-1, 125-pounds at that time. Right now, Jon is 6-foot-10 and weighs 200-pounds."

It wasn't that long ago when Leuer was being recruited by the likes of Iowa State, Minnesota, New Mexico, St. Louis, Illinois State, Rice, Wisconsin-Green Bay and others. However, Leuer's list of schools has certainly changed in a short period of time.

Despite that fact that so many high-major programs are interested in the Minnesota big man, don't look for Leuer to be satisfied with his performance to date. He knows that he must perform well on a consist basis in order to prove himself as one of the truly elite players in the class.

"Basically, I told Jon not to get too wound up in all of this," said Leuer. "He needs to focus on performing well week-to-week. Jon is on the radar screen right now and some schools have noticed him and others have offered, but Jon must stay focused on performing well."