Tag: IMG Academy (Bradenton FL)

Watch: In high school, Zach Edey was raw and unproven but flashed his potential

In high school, Zach Edey was raw but flashed his potential.

Zach Edey has Purdue heading to the Final Four, having put together another outstanding performance over the weekend in the NCAA Tournament. March Madness has been truly maddening for opposing defenses trying to stop the Purdue center.

All of which makes Edey’s high school recruitment a bit of its own madness. As a center at IMG Academy (Bradenton, Florida) in the class of 2020, Edey was certainly under-recruited based on his eventual output for Purdue.

On Sunday, Edey scored 40 points as Purdue booked their ticket to the Final Four with a win over Tennessee. He is averaging 25.0 points per game on the season and a career-high 2.2 blockers per game.

Born in Canada, Edey didn’t start playing organized basketball till his sophomore year of high school. At IMG, he took a significant step forward in his development but was still very much under the radar.

Then a 7-foot-3, 265-pounder center, Edey had offers that included Baylor, Minnesota, Santa Clara and Tulane among others.

In the On3 Industry Rankings, Edey was a consensus three-star recruit and was ranked the No. 255 player in the nation.

 

Watching these highlights of Edey and it is clear that his size was the biggest factor in his high school success. There is just no one at the high school level who was prepared to handle his length.

But the nuances to his game, including his outside game, really began to develop at Purdue. Watching his unrefined potential, however, is a real treat.

IMG Academy looking for new football coach after Bobby Acosta leaves for Del Valle

IMG Academy is looking for its third football coach in as many years after Bobby Acosta accepted the head-coaching job at Del Valle.

IMG Academy is on the hunt for its third coach in as many seasons.

Bobby Acosta, who led the Ascenders to a national championship last season, is leaving Florida to accept the head-coaching job at Del Valle High School in Texas. IMG Academy went 8-0 under Acosta’s watch in 2020, outscoring opponents 381-82 along the way. Its most impressive win over the season was a 41-14 romp over Duncanville in Texas in a battle of the then-top two teams in the country, according to the USA Today Super 25.

RELATED: Super 25 Week 6 Recap: No. 1 IMG Academy downs No. 2 Duncanville

“I knew I found my new home after meeting with Athletic Director Tawni Angel and Superintendent Dr. Annette Tielle,” Acosta said in a statement. “Del Valle has a culture of excellence and wants to infuse our students with the tools to be successful.”

Acosta was the wide receivers coach Minnesota’s College of St. Scholastica in 2019 before becoming IMG Academy’s head coach. Prior to his one-year stint in Bradenton, Acosta accumulated coaching experience at the college level at Bucknell (2017-18), Cornell (2016) and Syracuse (2014-15).

Acosta takes over for Charles Burton at Del Valle. Burton, the father of five-star wide receiver and Ohio State commit Caleb Burton. The elder Burton was 29-51 at Del Valle and was the school’s longest-tenured head coach. Caleb Burton has elected not to play his senior season at Del Valle after his father stepped down.

Now, IMG Academy begins a search it has become all too familiar with in recent years. Whoever becomes the program’s next head coach is slated to inherit a loaded roster featuring numerous five and four-star recruits, headlined by five-star 2022 safety Keon Sabb and four-star 2022 quarterback A.J. Duffy.

RELATED: Former Arkansas, SMU coach Chad Morris named new football coach at Allen HS 

There’s a new basketball star named Darius Miles, and he’s going to be a star, too

Darius Miles is now a three-star swingman playing for the IMG Academy postgraduate team, with a future with the likes of Georgetown, Texas A&M or LSU.

Every year there are at least a handful of fifth-year high school graduates who compete on postgrad teams or at select prep schools and make enough of an impression to vault into the upper echelon of the forthcoming recruiting class. This year, one of those prospects appears to be Darius Miles.

No, not that Darius Miles. This one.

The new Darius Miles is an emerging star for the IMG Academy postgraduate squad. According to 247Sports, Miles — who stands 6-foot-7 — scored 33 points across a pair of games at the National Prep Showcase over the weekend.  In conjunction with the rise he’s experienced and impressive performances he has put on, more programs are jumping in to recruit him, including Texas A&M and LSU.

Those SEC programs appear to have a strong line to the swingman, though they’ll have to compete with Georgetown (from his hometown of Washington, D.C.), Rutgers, Rhode Island and possibly others. If there’s any chance he could live up to his namesake’s performance, there will probably be more programs chasing his signature soon.

Seventeen Super 25 teams to be featured in the GEICO ESPN High School Showcase

GEICO ESPN High School Showcase will feature 17 Super 25 teams and multiple Chosen 25 stars this season.

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Seventeen of the 25 teams ranked in USA Today’s Super 25 Boys Basketball Rankings will be featured this season in the GEICO ESPN High School Showcase.

In all 34 games will be available across ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and digitally on ESPN3.

“When you combine the abundance of nationally ranked teams and the nation’s most elite prospects, this year’s schedule is our biggest and best to date,” said Paul Biancardi, ESPN national recruiting director.

RELATED: Day one of the Early Signing Period

The TV games will kickoff on Dec. 5 when No. 5 Prolific Prep (Napa, California) takes on No. 3 Hillcrest Prep (Phoenix) on ESPN2.

The Crew features elite guard Nimari Burnett, a Texas Tech signee who is ranked No. 15 overall in USA Today Sports’ Chosen 25, and Jalen Green, who is ranked No. 3 overall, while the Bruins feature a handful of Chosen 25 players, including junior forward Michael Foster, who is ranked No. 6, and Keon Edwards, who is ranked No. 19.

PRESEASON BASKETBALL COVERAGE:

Super 25 Boys Rankings | ALL-USA Boys | ALL-USA Girls

Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth, California), ranked No. 8, will make 15 appearances across the different platforms this season.

The Trailblazers boast Chosen 25 star shooting guard B.J. Boston, a Ketucky signee who is ranked No. 14 and Ziaire Williams, who is ranked No. 9. Also, Bronny James, son of NBA superstar LeBron James, and Zaire Wade, son of retired NBA star Dwyane Wade, suit up for Sierra Canyon.

Checkout the full slate of games below.

Date Time (ET) Matchup Network
Thu, Nov 21 11 p.m. No. 8 Sierra Canyon (Calif.)at Montgomery HS (Calif.) ESPN3
Fri, Nov 22 11 p.m. No. 8 Sierra Canyon (Calif.) vs. Saint Augustine (Calif.) ESPN3
Sat, Nov 23 11 p.m. No. 8 Sierra Canyon (Calif.) vs. Cathedral Catholic (Calif.) ESPN3
Thu, Dec 5 9 p.m. No. 5 Prolific Prep (Calif.) vs. No. 3 Hillcrest Prep (Ariz.) ESPN2
Sat, Dec 7 7 p.m. No. 16 Mater Dei (Calif.) vs. Perry (Ariz.) ESPN3
Sat, Dec 7 8:30 p.m. Christ the King (N.Y.) vs. No. 18 Rancho Christian (Calif.) ESPN3
Sat, Dec 7 10 p.m. No. 8 Sierra Canyon (Calif.) at Millenium (Ariz.) ESPN3
Sat, Dec 7 11:30 p.m. Hamilton Heights (Tenn.) at No. 3 Hillcrest Prep (Ariz.) ESPN3
Thu, Dec 12 8 p.m. No. 10 DeMatha (Md.) at No. 1 Montverde Academy (Fla.) ESPNU
Sat, Dec 14 8:30 p.m. No. 8 Sierra Canyon (Calif.) vs. St. Vincent & St. Mary (Ohio) ESPN3
Thu, Jan 3 7 p.m. Park Center (Minn.) at Minnehaha Acadamy (Minn.) ESPN3
Thu, Jan 3 9 p.m. No. 4 The Patrick School (N.J.) at No. 8 Sierra Canyon (Calif.) ESPN2
Fri, Jan 4 8 p.m. No. 8 Sierra Canyon (Calif.) at No. 20 Minnehaha Academy (Minn.) ESPN3
Thu, Jan 10 9 p.m. No. 7 Huntington Prep (W.Va.) at No. 2 IMG Academy (Fla.) ESPN2
Fri, Jan 11 TBD No. 18 Rancho Christian (Calif.) at No. 8 Sierra Canyon (Calif.) ESPN3
Fri, Jan 18 3 p.m. La Lumiere (Ind.) vs. Gonzaga (D.C.) ESPN3
Fri, Jan 18 4:30 p.m. No. 18 Rancho Christian (Calif.) vs. Camden (N.J.) ESPN3
Fri, Jan 18 6 p.m. No. 2 IMG Academy (Fla.) vs. No. 4 The Patrick School (N.J.) ESPN3
Fri, Jan 18 8 p.m. No. 8 Sierra Canyon (Calif.) vs. Dominican (Wis.) ESPN3
Sat, Jan 19 12:30 p.m. Orangeville Prep (Canada) vs. Brewster Adcademy (N.H.) ESPN3
Sat, Jan 19 2:15 p.m. Whitney Young (Ill.) vs. No. 4 The Patrick School (N.J.) ESPN3
Sat, Jan 19 4 p.m. No. 3 Hillcrest Prep (Ariz.) vs. Sunrise Christian (Kan.) ESPN3
Sat, Jan 19 5:30 p.m. No. 6 Prolific Prep (Calif.) at vs. La Lumiere (Ind.) ESPN3
Sat, Jan 19 7:30 p.m. No. 2 IMG Academy (Fla.) vs. No. 1 Montverde Academy (Fla.) ESPN
Sun, Jan 20 11 a.m. No. 8 Sierra Canyon (Calif.) vs. No. 12 Paul VI (Va.) ESPNU
Sun, Jan 20 1 p.m. No. 18 Rancho Christian (Calif.) vs. No. 10 DeMatha (Md.) ESPNU
Sun, Jan 20 3 p.m. No. 17 Bishop Gorman (Nev.) vs. No. 11 Oak Hill Academy (Va.) ESPNU
Sun, Jan 20 5 p.m. No. 1 Montverde Academy (Fla.) vs. No. 6 McEachern (Ga.) ESPNU
Thu, Jan 24 11 p.m. Coronado (Nev.) at No. 17 Bishop Gorman (Nev.) ESPNU
Mon, Jan 28 TBD No. 8 Sierra Canyon (Calif.) at Campbell Hall (Calif.) ESPN3
Thu, Jan 31 TBD No. 8 Sierra Canyon (Calif.) at Brentwood School (Calif.) ESPN3
Mon, Feb 4 TBD No. 8 Sierra Canyon (Calif.) at Paraclete HS (Calif.) ESPN3
Wed, Feb 6 5:30 p.m. No. 25 Archbishop Stepinac (N.Y.) at Christ the King (N.Y.) ESPNU
Wed, Feb 6 7:30 p.m. Saint John Vianney (N.J.) vs. Christ the King (N.Y.) Girls TBD
Thu, Feb 7 TBD No. 8 Sierra Canyon (Calif.) vs. Gil St. Benard’s (N.J.) ESPN3
Fri, Feb 8 TBD No. 8 Sierra Canyon (Calif.) vs. No. 9 Long Island Lutheran (N.Y.) ESPN3
Fri, Feb 8 TBD Huntington Prep vs. The Patrick School TBD