Mt. Olive is a fruitful stop on recruiting trail

Tucked away in a small, humble gym at the Salvation Army in a small, humble neighborhood in historic downtown Marietta, Georgia, college coaches have found a roster full of potential players. Recruiters made the trip to the Peach State during the October evaluation period to take a look at the Mt. Olive Prep hoops team and by all accounts, they been pleasantly surprised by the team. Rivals.com has spent a couple of days with the team and chime in with an overview of the rising program.

Former Tennessee Tech assistant coach Garrick Respress has taken over the head coaching position for the small prep school. His college roots are already being felt. Just ask any of the players.

“This isn’t high school,” Curtis Brown, one of the top players for the school, said. “Coach gets on us sometimes but I know, I think we all know, that he just wants us to start thinking about being a college player. We all want to get the best out of each other.”

Respress’s college coaching connections has also brought in high major programs like Kentucky, Georgia, Indiana, South Carolina, Illinois, Purdue, DePaul, North Carolina and others to the school for practices. Now that the dead period is in effect, here is a look at what the college recruiters have been making trips for.

It all starts with Brown. The 6-foot-9, 210-pound forward from Savannah, Georgia is the player that most of the high major coaches came to see. The former Beach High School product is a long, lanky body that has good athleticism and a desire to improve. At times, he float on the wing and want to play the small forward spot because of his respectable ball-handling skills and ability to run.

At any rate, four schools have risen to the top. Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky and Purdue are all heavily involved. Brown has unofficially visited Georgia, where he said, “he was converted to Georgia’s way of thinking.” Last Saturday, Brown made an unofficial visit to Kentucky. Respress said Brown, “thoroughly enjoyed his time in Lexington.”

Brown is raw but as one assistant coach said, “high-major raw.” Coaches like his leadership ability, including his current coach Respress.

Brown isn’t the only intriguing forward. Dominique Bedford, a manchild at 6-foot-7, 235-pounds. With only one year of varsity experience under his belt at Memphis (Tenn.) Melrose High School, the game is still coming to the muscular power forward. At a recent junior college showcase, in which Mt. Olive played, Bedford was a force under the basket, rebounding all that came to him. Respress said he liked what he saw.

“The sky is the limit for him,” the coach said. “He’s our best interior player but he’s also very raw…I believe he’s physically prepared to play anywhere at any level whether that is the SEC, ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, wherever. His challenge is know how to play in a structured environment. I doubt I’ll ever be on his Christmas card list because I’m pretty hard on him but he’s showing that he’s coming along.”

Raw is a good word to describe Bradford. He is still learning how to play fundamental basketball and fine tuning his positioning with his back to the basket. Brute strength always him to be effective right now. He demonstrated that against Atlanta Metro Junior College at the junior college showcase. “He can’t be stopped in the blocks,” Respress said.

“I think when coaches come in here and see him and his rugged style of play, they are going to say, ‘We’re going to go for a guy like that,’” Respress said.

Purdue, South Carolina, Tennessee and a host of others have made mental notes of the forward. Bedford took the SAT last week.

Two athletic wing forwards, Antoine Taylor and Rashad Brown, give the team a nice counter attack on the wing. Taylor, a 6-foot-6, 210-pound forward from Memphis, Tenn., is another “sky is the limit” kind of player. He comes to Mt. Olive after a career at Mitchell High School, where he played with class of 2006 super prospect Thaddeus Young. Taylor is getting ready to visit East Tennessee State.

“I think it’s a savvy, aggressive move by (ETSU),” Respress says. “They have a number of Memphis kids there and have been successful there before.”

There is a lot to like about Taylor. Repress calls him “the most athletic guy on the team” and the “most intriguing” player on the roster. Taylor is a high-level athlete that can shoot on the wing and attack the basket but everything in between is lacking, but improving. When he puts it all together, Taylor has a shot to be a solid player at the highest level. Several other schools have said they wanted to keep tabs on him, including Auburn, DePaul, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Tennessee Tech and others.

Brown, a 6-foot-6, 175-pound wing forward from Jacksonville, Fla., is a wiry thin and very active player that loves to run the floor. At times, he looks like a player that can play in one of the power hoops conferences. Other times, he blends in. That’s also the case with the schools involved.

“He’s one of our most intriguing guys because there are a rash of schools looking at him from high, high Division II schools to high Division I schools,” Respress said. “He has all of the intangibles and he’s athletic enough to play anywhere.”

Brown is adding weight and mass to his frame, something that coaches are hoping he would do with this extra year. He’s a quality offensive rebounder because of his long arms.

Rounding out the frontline is Joe Harris, a high school teammate of Curtis Brown at Savannah’s Beach High School. Harris, a 6-foot-8, 215-pound forward, was one of the top players in the state of Georgia last season but was a bit of an unknown even within the borders of the state. He is a blue collar player that plays well in nearly every facet of the game.

“I like his toughness,” Respress said. “He’s the whole package really. Joe has made strides since he’s been here. He basically hasn’t played since graduating. He went out to South Plains Junior College but decided to come on home because it was out of his comfort zone. Then he went to work at Burger King. That’s where he has come from. I think he really has to get to the point where he knows his potential. He’s a super kid with some good options ahead of him.”

Those options include schools from the Ohio Valley, Colonial and Southern Conferences. Conference USA teams have also shown an interest, too.

The Backcourt

Georgia Southern isn’t known for it’s basketball prowess nationally. Football, maybe. The Southern conference school enjoyed it’s best year last season since 1991-92, finishing 21-8. That success was one of the reasons why Courtnei Houston, a 6-foot, 160-pound guard from Statesboro, home of GSU, verbally committed to the War Eagles. Houston is a big time player for that level. He’s a dead-eye shooter and a tough on the ball defender. Repress agrees.

“He has the kind of ability and the kind of attention to be a star in Statesboro,” the coach said. “He’s from there and he’s talented.”

Houston averaged 24.3 points a game last year. He’ll start at the two-guard spot this season at Mt. Olive.

Leadership, particularly in a program with a new group of players each and every year, comes in handy to start the season. That is why Chad Jones is so important. A stocky 5-foot-11, 170-pound point guard is a “great program guy” says Repress and the Arkansas native will likely be the team’s starting floor general.

“He’ll probably start for us because of his ability to communicate with the team. He just unifies everyone,” Respress said. “Plus, he’s one of the best on the ball defenders I’ve been around. He sees the floor really well and that will bode well for us.”

Gideon Brown, a 6-foot, 155-pound guard from Jacksonville, Florida, gives the rotation a spark at both positions.

“He’s a very good shooter and has all of the tools to be a Division I player but he’s just got to put it all together on the floor,” Repress said. “He’s very, very green though. Playing at this level is all new to him. He played at a private school in Florida and every other week he has this deer in the headlights look. But when he’s on his game, he’s good. I’ll say this, he’s our best player in practice. It’s just a matter of putting it all together for him.”

The backcourt has a number of NAIA/Division II/Low-major Division I/JUCO prospects, too. Paul Daniel, a 6-foot-2, 160-pound guard from Marietta, Ga., is improving after being away from the game due to a major head injury. David Adams is a 6-foot-2, 175-pound shooting guard that can knock down the long ball with the best of them. Courtney George, a 5-foot-10, 155-pound guard is a raw player with only a year of varsity basketball under his belt. He’s a good penetrator. Eric White is a 5-foot-10, 160-pound guard that will come off the bench for clutch shooting.

Respress has two former college players, Marcus Byams, who played at Georgia Southern, and Kevin Young, who played at Clayton College & State University, as his assistants to help implement the college mindset that the players are already talking about.

Mt. Olive will play a schedule loaded with junior colleges and a couple of games against prep schools. All home games will be played at North Cobb Christian school in Acworth, Georgia.