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| Jalen Blackmon, Caleb Furst, William Jeffress, Pierre Brooks& Meechie Johnson |
We’re only
halfway through the day of the UA Next
Combine Series Midwest and it’s already clear there are some serious ballers
in the house! The second year event tipped off at the Quest Multisport facility
in Chicago, IL. On the same court as the
NBA Combine earlier this week, 40 elite 8th graders from around the
region assembled for the first of 5 regional combines. Under Armour’s new
partnership with the NBA and Jr. NBA is clearly evident and the upgrade in
resources is quite impressive! Another nice touch was the presence of Oklahoma
City Thunder’s Jernami Grant and former NBA great Antonio Davis, who offered
their insight and experience to the campers.
So far this
morning, players and parents have been treated to informative workshops
designed to impart knowledge and valuable information about what kids and
parents can expect going forward. In
addition, players are being put through a series of skill and drills as well as
the same combine testing as the future NBA guys experienced this past
week. The 9 stations include shuttle
drills, vertical jumps, 40-yard dash, wingspan and height measurements and
several others. After lunch, players
will begin practicing before the 3 rounds of games begin in the afternoon.
The opening
event has attracted some of the some of the top 8th graders in the
region including: Jalen Blackmon (6’1/PG/Ft.
Wayne, IN), Caleb Furst (6’8/C/Ft.
Wayne, IN), William Jeffress
(6’5/WF/Erie, PA), Meechie Johnson
(5’11/PG/Garfield Heights, OH), Pierre
Brooks II (6’4/WF/Detroit, MI), Keon
Henderson (5’11/PG/Detroit, MI), Skyler
Schmidt (6’6/PF/Goshon, OH), Patrick
Baldwin (6’6/WF/Evanston, IL), Glenn
Bynum Jr. (6’3/CG/Mint Hill, NC), Chris
Hodges (6’8/C/Schamburg, IL) and Jaden
Winfield (6’1/CG/St. Louis, MO). In addition to the 8th graders,
2 nationally ranked 7th graders made the cut. Chris
Livingston (6’3/CG/Akron, OH) and Paul
McMillan IV (6’0/PG/Cincinnati, OH) will have the opportunity to pit their
talent against some of the best the class of 2021 has to offer. With all the talent in the gym, we can’t wait
for the games to jump off later this afternoon!
Stay tuned for our post event report.
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