goonaha

Garland's dad told Rabjohns that it was an "awesome, awesome home visit" and that "we can't wait" for the Assembly Hall visit. Archie and all three assistants were there. The staff are definitely all in. Just my opinion, but I feel better about this recruitment than I did a month or two ago.

Archie Miller and his staff went in-home with Brentwood (Tenn.) Academy star Darius Garland today. Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners

Inside the Hall has a Q&A up http://www.insidethehall.com/2017/09/17/q-a-trendon-watford-father-ernest-recap-iu-visit/ Class of 2019 Mountain Brook (Ala.) forward Trendon Watford was in Bloomington this weekend for an unofficial visit to Indiana. Watford, a five-star prospect nationally, was on campus for the Hoosier Volleyball Classic as his older sister, Elise, is an outside hitter for Samford University. The entire Watford family – Ernest, Belinda, Christian, Elise and Trendon – had a chance to return to a campus where they spent a lot of time from 2009 through 2013. Inside the Hall spoke in-depth with both Ernest and Trendon on Sunday afternoon after they returned home to Birmingham. Our full Q & A follows: On how the trip this weekend came about: Ernest Watford: “Elise played in the Hoosier Classic Volleyball, they played Indiana, UNLV and Florida Gulf Coast. Those three and Samford were the four teams in the tournament.” On what it was like to be back in Bloomington as a family: Ernest Watford: “It brought back the passion from the four years that we were there. Just seeing it and knowing that we built something there as a team. It’s really moving forward. Super impressed with the new staff and coach Archie Miller. They seem like some great guys with some opportunities and vision to have the program continue trend upward and forward. Obviously getting a chance to see the new Assembly Hall, we had never seen it before. That is something special with the way they designed that.” On what stood out most about the Assembly Hall renovations: Ernest Watford: “The south end where you walk in and now you’ve got escalators and all of the new modern features. And then you walk inside the gym and all of the new seating and the new scoreboard. That’s the biggest thing that stands out.” On the adjustment getting to know a new coaching staff and what stands out about the new staff: Ernest Watford: “He (Archie) was so laid back. He talked precisely about how he plays, the style of play and what kind of condition he wants his players to be in and the approach and philosophy of the game as well as his approach and philosophy of how to move IU forward. That stood out. It appeared that the whole staff was laid back as far as taking on his demeanor. He’s a great communicator and really talked a lot about Trendon and where he thought he’d fit in and how he thought he could coach him. It was something special for sure to go and get to know him. Just to have time and spend the two days talking with him and getting his insight on things. What was most impressive is his approach in trying to make sure that the former players – because Christian was there and Yogi (Ferrell) was there – that the former players have the access to everything they had when they were players. The family feel that he wants it to be was impressive to us. We’re all about family, as you know.” On what Trendon learned on the visit and how Ernest councils him on what to look for and questions to ask: Ernest Watford: “We always try to look and see, from a head coach’s standpoint, the approach and his philosophy and how he incorporates his team and develops his team. We’re looking for the right fit and style of play because of Trendon’s versatility. We look to hear that from the head coach and we look to see any film and anything he’s got of former teams that he’s had and their style of play. It’s more so that (with IU) because we already know what kind of school it is as far as the fanbase, the academics there. We know what kind of alumni base is there because we were there for four years and Christian finished there. It was a little easier with this visit because we know the school. We just didn’t know the staff. The main thing we tell Trendon is: almost everybody is going to proposition you the same way in terms of what they think they can do to move your game further, to move you along to what your dreams are. Obviously, just have an open mind to listen and pay close attention to the staff and what they say. Every kid wants to go in and go to a Final Four, win a championship. That’s big for us. It’s important to have good pieces on your team. The coach is biggest thing we look for in the grand scheme of things.” On IU’s aggressiveness in recruiting Trendon since the coaching change: Ernest Watford: “Ed Schilling is our guy there. We’ve known Ed a long time going back to when Christian was going through training and Trendon remembers him. But to answer your question: They’ve turned up the heat in the recruiting as far as contact. We contact them, they contact us. They’ve turned that up tremendously from early March to now. They definitely appear, to us, that he’s one of their top priorities for 2019.” On how Trendon and Christian are different in their personalities on the court and their approach: Ernest Watford: “I think Trendon, at a young age … getting a chance to go into Big Ten arenas all over the country and getting a chance to come to Cook Hall and Assembly and play and even being young, I think has helped him tremendously. Having an older brother to mentor him and to move him in some directions that he went through that, obviously he wants the best for his brother and for him not to have to go through some of those things. But personality wise, Trendon is a little more edgy on the court. He plays with a little more dog, a little more fire. Christian is super skilled and Trendon is probably more skilled than Christian was at 16 years old. The difference is having an older brother, that puts you in the position to know what you have to have and how you’ve got to equip yourself every day. Everything is based off of potential now. We make sure we instill in Trendon that rankings are good, but at the end of the day, you’ve got to have a game that will transition to that level. Christian tries to make sure he works on that and we try to make sure we move him in that direction.” On how much of an advantage is it for the family having already gone through this process before with Christian: Ernest Watford: “You can’t even put a value on it. Just the overall experience of it all going through it at a high level with your first kid and you have a chance to go through it again, there are some points you listen for and you get a good feel and a good vibe, it’s a tremendous advantage. And to have Christian’s input, because he actually went through it … I’m his father, I was there with him going through it from a parent standpoint, but actually fighting through the D-League, fighting overseas and still trying to fulfill his dream, that part alone is probably more beneficial to me as a father. Because collectively, wherever Trendon decides to go, it will be Christian, Trendon and my decision and then his mom. It will be a family decision. We’ll definitely lean on Christian a lot because of his experience and the experiences I’ve had as a father. It helps out a lot having gone through it.” On how Christian feels about Indiana recruiting Trendon: Ernest Watford: “He’s excited about it because he wasn’t so much excited that they weren’t from the beginning. He didn’t really understand it. Obviously we respect coach (Tom) Crean and that was our coach there and we did everything we could with that. We don’t take that for granted or badmouth anything. Maybe it was coming, we don’t know. But this staff has reached out to him and Christian is excited about it. He was excited about going to watch his sister and actually getting a chance to go on the visit with his brother. That’s special to be able to go back to the school and the new coaching staff embraces not only the recruit, but the recruit’s family and reaches out to the former guys there and makes them feel a part of it. It was big for Christian. He hadn’t seen any of the renovations either. We were excited to see that. We were extremely excited to talk with Archie and learn about his approach. He’s everything Indiana is going to need. I think it’s a good hire for them.” — On what stood out about the visit: Trendon Watford: “What mainly stood out is the new facility and the way the new Assembly Hall looks.” On Archie Miller and the coaching staff: Trendon Watford: “They’re already making changes in the program. A whole new staff, all new faces around. Archie seems like a pretty cool coach and a pretty cool person as well.” On what it was like to go on the visit with Christian: Trendon Watford: “It was good. He couldn’t walk outside for five minutes without people know him. He’s still taking pictures and everything. That was all good.” On how much he’s hearing from Indiana: Trendon Watford: “I’m hearing from them at least every two days from either Archie or coach Ed Schilling. They came and saw me last week at school.” On the renovations at Assembly Hall: Trendon Watford: “Everything is different. It was all impressive, especially the way they’ve got Assembly Hall set up now. It definitely wasn’t like that when Christian was playing there. It was really impressive.” On the recruiting process and when he plans to decide: Trendon Watford: “Probably next fall or after my AAU season next year I’ll either cut a list or make a decision. Right now, I’m just enjoying every visit and every school that is recruiting right me right now. Enjoying all of them and the process.” On the schools he’s hearing from most in addition to IU and Alabama: Trendon Watford: “Kansas, LSU, Illinois, NC State, Memphis, Wake Forest, Tennessee.”

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Not to kill your buzz but they do that same photo op for every visit.

Visiting Louisville today for the Clemson game.

Archie Miller could be called the lead recruiter on every recruit. He is the head coach after all. Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners mobile app

Well Bruiser has been lead recruiter on Phinisee, Anderson, and Forrester. Seems like value added to me. Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners mobile app

I'll be fairly surprised at this point if he's not an IU commit. The only possibility is pursuing early playing time at one of the other schools. Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners mobile app

I suppose he could go play in Europe or the G League. I think the most likely scenario is Garland committing somewhere else in November (Vanderbilt in all likelihood) and there not being a scholarship crunch at all as we pursue Romeo in the spring.

Rabjohns is saying that the HH visit will be unofficial, which means that they can still take an official for the full red carpet treatment later. Probably a good thing.

Why do you think that? Reddish is a wing player so don't see how he affects Garland.

Guy on the left is his stepdad. The third picture in the post is him and what looks like high school friends. No IU representatives so not really worth posting. Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners mobile app

He's got a private Instagram account but here's a screenshot Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners mobile app

Provided Forrester doesn't commit*

Even if one of them does (which I doubt), we can just take multiple bigs next year. We're in on a ton. Igiehorn, Stewart, Jackson-Davis, Okoro, Cockburn, Hurt Not to mention that taking Forrester now means we'd have to do some "roster management" to pull of a Garland-Romeo package deal.

Leading with TJD makes me again question the continued pursuit of Jake Forrester. They have the same body type, play the same role, and yet TJD seems more polished already and has a higher ceiling in my opinion. Not to mention the in state factor.

My favorite from his stepdad: "“I can see through the B.S.. I don’t see any B.S. in what Indiana is telling me or what Indiana is telling Trayce"

Three unofficials in one summer is a lot even if he only lives 45 minutes away. Said that he wants to commit before the start of his senior season but maybe he'll want to get it over with before then. Seems like IU leads indeed.

In the post visit interview with Rabjohns, Brooks Sr. said that they expect to visit again for Hoosier Hysteria and for some actual games. Sounds like they had a great visit and the staff did a great job of showing them campus, their plans for Keion Jr academically and athletically, and their overall vision for the program. Exciting stuff.

That's actually Dad's twitter account. So we have to analyze social media of middle aged men and teenagers lol.

Torrence Watson decommited from Ohio State.

Visiting IU today per Peegs

Official visit tentatively scheduled for October 20-22, per Darius's father. That's Hoosier Hysteria weekend so hopefully Romeo is on the visit too.

It's also not just James using the facilities. Looks like he's going through a specific workout with Schilling. Just a little example of what an asset he'll be. Hope Romeo sees that Instagram story.