National Signing Day: Sleeper Signees
Every season there is a prospect or two that comes onto your radar as a scout that is refreshing, new, has a great attitude, and a willingness to understand the recruiting process, that for lack of a better term, you want to help. Those guys are fun to follow and when you hear about them putting up 40 points in their season debut or getting some new offers, you feel a little bit more secure about what you are doing as a scout. Maybe a college coach read the report you sent out, maybe saw the one tweet you put out about the kid, maybe they found him on their own. In this piece, I take a look at two sleeper signees for the 2020 class.
Will Pruitt, 6-1, PG, Mt. Juliet (TN) HS/Tennessee Tigers, Lipscomb - Chip Smith’s Tennessee Tigers program is a program that uses the HoopSeen platform to perfection. His group plays hard, doesn’t make mistakes and are always a team that can be seen on Sunday going after a championship. Will Pruitt, the lead guard for the program was one of my sleeper signees for the 2020 travel season because he just gets it done every time he is on the floor. Keeping turnovers to a minimum, Pruitt wants the ball in his hands and understands the game at a high level. Lipscomb Head Coach Lennie Acuff and assistants Kevin Carrol and Roger Idstrom were a fixture at our Best of the South event in downtown Atlanta and offered Pruitt in August. He is a guy that makes everyone around him better. He is not going to wow you with athleticism but he gets the job done night in and night out. Pruitt held offers from Campbell, Trevecca Nazarene and Union before choosing Lipscomb in late September.
Nolan Dorsey, 6-6, PG, Raleigh (NC) Millbrook/Big Shots, New Mexico - The sleeper concept can also come down to level and for Nolan Dorsey it is at the highest level of college basketball. Dorsey held numerous mid-major level offers from some of the best programs in the country but kept waiting for a high-major offer. New Mexico Head Coach Paul Weir went and saw Dorsey at Millbrook HS in Raleigh, North Carolina for a workout in September. He called me after that workout and raved about Dorsey. He offered a scholarship and had the lead guard on campus the next weekend. The rest is history. What the Lobos are getting in Dorsey is the best passing point guard I have seen this season. Not even close. With great size and excellent court vision, Dorsey will fit right in at that level of basketball in the Mountain West Conference. The Lobos only have one true point guard on their roster, redshirt junior Keith McGee. Playing time will be thrown at Dorsey as soon as he arrives on campus and he will be ready for it.
