By Terry Boehmker
NKy Tribune sports reporter
Jackson Crawford received awards for being one of top high school basketball players in Northern Kentucky and the 10th Region this season when he averaged 18 points and 5.8 rebounds per game for the Bishop Brossart Mustangs.
The 6-foot-4 senior forward expected those statistics and his 3.3 grade-point average to impress college coaches, but he hasn’t received any solid offers yet. That’s why he participated in the college recruiting combine that was held Saturday at the Griffin Elite Sports and Wellness facility in Erlanger.
“This is my first time doing one of these type things,” Crawford said after the showcase for local players was completed. “It was a good experience and hopefully it benefitted my recruiting process.”
More than 40 players from high schools in Boone, Campbell and Kenton counties signed up for the first combine organized by the Northern Kentucky Boys Basketball Coaches Association.
After going through a series of tests to measure their jumping ability, speed and strength, information sheets were prepared for each player and handed out to the 12 college recruiters who came to the combine. The players then went through basketball skill drills and played scrimmage games while the recruiters watched from the sidelines.
All of the recruiters were from NCAA Division III college teams. Scott head coach Brad Carr said the organizing committee missed a deadline to get the combine certified for Division I teams. But the information sheets on each player can be sent to college teams on any level for recruiting purposes.
“We made some mistakes, but moving forward we’ll be able to make those adjustments,” Carr said. “But I’m pleased with everything else. For us to be able to put this on as a basketball coaches association and get as many kids as we had involved in it is unbelievable.”
One of the college recruiters at Saturday’s first combine was Jeff Gongwer, an assistant coach at Capital University in Ohio. He liked the format Carr and the committee put together to assess a player’s ability.
“They did a nice job because they did a lot of drills with (the players) ahead of time,” Gongwer said. “That kind of gives us a little bit better feel of how a kid handles drills because that’s what we spend a lot of time on (in practice). Playing games is OK, but if you can watch them do certain types of drills that are meaningful to what we use it’s really helpful.”
There was a mixture of seniors, juniors and sophomores at the combine. Gongwer was primarily looking for upcoming graduates to complete this year’s recruiting class, but he said getting information on underclassmen was also important.
“We have from now until about July to still pick up some kids who are seniors,” he said. “The junior players we’ll probably start to see in the months of April and May in AAU leagues, but it’s nice that they included them here with the other guys so we can see them.”
Adam Goetz, a three-year starter for St. Henry, talked with a few of the Division III college coaches after Saturday’s combine. He said those coaches have been in contact with him since last year when he participated in a combine at Findlay University in Ohio.
Goetz likes the idea of conducting a combine in Northern Kentucky each year to give local players more exposure to college recruiters.
“I think this one will get bigger and more colleges will come because there’s a lot of talent coming up in the younger ages,” Goetz said. “Hopefully, a lot of them will get college looks. People do miss a lot of talent from around here so this will help.”