Left: 2015 Harrison Hackney Right: 2015 Rashard Odomes
This is my 9th year looking for young talent. Seems like only yesterday, my own son was a 6th grader. So, I've seen them all (or darn near most of them) over the years when they've been youngsters. Kids like J. Mychal Reese of Bryan, and more recently 2015 Malik Ellison of New Jersey. I had the pleasure of seeing current college guards Bryan Beasley (Rice), Nic Wise (Arizona) and A.J. Abrams (Texas) when they were 6th graders. I believe we have truly found our next player who shows signs of this type of talent, at the same point in their young playing careers in 2015 G 5'7" Rashard Odomes of Copperas Cove.
I had a chance to visit briefly with Rashard, his mom and his club coach, Robert Orr of the Cobras who has done a great job in training him over the last couple of years. I believe he has the demeanor and work ethic that will not see his potential slow down over the next few years. In short, he can be as good as he wants to be.
Athletically Rashard was superior. His 2.99 time in the 20 yd dash showed his straightline quickness. He was one of only a handful of guys who broke the 3 second barrier, even amongst the 7th and 8th graders. His vertical of 24.2 was in the same category. Young Odomes topped it all off by knocking down 8 shots in the Hot Shot Shooting Drill. However, it was in the scrimmage portion of the program where you could see that along with the "superior numbers" Rashard was a step ahead of his peers and older players too. He handled the ball extremely well and had a great first step to the basket. I loved the fact that he was fearless going to the rack. I didn't see a great premium on point guard floor vision but that may have been because he could pretty do much he wanted to get his own shot. The sky's the limit for Rashard Odomes!
Likely in most any other camp or testing session 2015 G 5'6" Harrison Hackney of Austin would have been the man. Hackney showed very good athleticism and with a quick time in the Pro Agility Shuttle had upper end times in this drill which tests lateral quickness and ability to change direction. I loved his desire to get after it on defense, and thought he showed the most hustle amongst the youngsters. In addition, Harrison showed great court vision and shot the ball extremely well.
