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JUN.
10 — Goshen Acquires High-Caliber Ohio Tandem
Pair
of commitments from renowned Canton GlenOak to
join program in fall |
Canton, OH — The Goshen College men’s
basketball recruiting efforts got a major boost this week,
as head coach Stan Daugherty announced Saturday the signings
of two standout players from northeastern Ohio. Both Errick McCollum II
and Nate West
Jr. — 2006 graduates of Canton GlenOak High School (Canton, Ohio) — will
join the Leafs’ program beginning in 2006-2007, giving Goshen a surplus
of talent and versatility for the coming years.
“We feel very fortunate to have both Errick and Nate coming to
Goshen College next season to play basketball,” Daugherty said. “They
both bring qualities that we look for both on and off the court,
and they have played very well against and with some of the best talent
in the
country. Both young men have the talent and work ethic to have
outstanding careers at Goshen College.”
Daugherty acquires a 6-1 scoring combo guard in McCollum and
a 6-4 do-it-all swing in West, as the duo helped Canton GlenOak to top
10 rankings in the Ohio High School Athletic Association Division I (large
school) poll in both their junior and senior seasons. Playing alongside
7-1 Kosta Koufos — a recent commitment to Ohio State University
and one of the nation’s top rising seniors — McCollum and
West pushed GlenOak to an overall record of 49-19 in their three years
as varsity lettermen, competing in arguably the toughest high school conference
in all of Ohio basketball.
“You look at our win-loss record and it’s very respectable,
but you have to remember that the back-to-back Division I state
champion (Canton McKinley
High School) is just a few miles away and in our conference,” said
Jack Greynolds, Canton GlenOak head coach. “These kids have grown
up playing against some of the best competition in the country,
and that should help them as they adjust to the college level.”
A season-ending injury to the 7-1 Koufos just 11 games into this
year also hurt GlenOak’s competitive chances, but McCollum and
West both elevated their games. McCollum took the region by storm,
averaging 18.5 points per game, six rebounds per game and three
assists per game
as a senior, grabbing first team all-conference, first team all-district,
first team all-area and special mention Division I All-State
honors as a result. West, meanwhile, scored 14.5 points per game
and grabbed a team-leading
8.3 rebounds per game, collecting second team all-conference,
second team all-district and honorable mention Division I All-State
honors.
With superior talent, GlenOak’s 2005-2006 schedule read like a “who’s
who” of high school basketball powerhouses, and McCollum waited
for the biggest stage to have his best performance. Facing Detroit Country
Day High School — ranked 18th in the nation at the time by SI.com — McCollum
poured in a school-record 36 points to go with six rebounds, five assists
and three steals in a 74-72 overtime win. In the first game following
Koufos’ injury, McCollum scored 27 points in a 51-50 win over Canton
Perry High School. McCollum holds the GlenOak record for career free throw
percentage — he was an 85 percent shooter from the charity stripe — and
finished his senior season shooting 47 percent from the floor and 38.4
percent from behind the three-point line.
“Errick is a scorer, there’s no question,” Greynolds
said, “but
his best attribute is that he’s a coach on the floor. Offensively,
he has unlimited range shooting the ball and improved a lot at
getting to the rim and finishing. He has the tools to be a very, very
good college
basketball player.”
West arrives to Goshen as what Greynolds called “the best defender
he’s coached,” giving the Leafs a needed presence. Though
not asked to score when Koufos was healthy, West proved he had the ability
to put up big numbers, as his 23-point, 11-rebound output against North
Canton Hoover High School in this year’s district semifinals proved.
“Nate kind of came out of nowhere this year with his offensive
production,” Greynolds said. “He became very good at getting
to the rim and finishing, and he became a very good selective
three-point shooter. Nate was always our best defender, though. He would
always guard
the other team’s best player, whether it was a point guard or a
center. He just brings it every single night out.”
Not only talented on the court, McCollum and West posted exceptional
results in the classroom as well. McCollum finished his high
school career with a 3.5 GPA, graduating with honors and earning
an award of merit in
the arts. West, meanwhile, maintained a cumulative GPA of 3.0
throughout high school, serving as the class vice president.
McCollum said he wants
to pursue business and accounting once at Goshen; West plans
to study sports management.
“They are the kind of kids that you want to be around,” Greynolds
said. “They play hard, they practice hard and they work hard in
the classroom. Both are basketball junkies, both want to learn
and get better and both are natural leaders. I’m thrilled to death
that they’re getting the opportunity to play together and go to
Goshen College.”
That togetherness may have been the final aspect that sealed
the deal for McCollum and West to choose Goshen, as both had interest
from several — yet different — institutions. West was being
courted by schools such as Benedict College and Wheeling Jesuit University,
while McCollum had interest from Notre Dame College, Ashland University
and Shawnee State University with preferred walk-on offers from several
Mid-American Conference schools including Akron University and Central
Michigan University. In the end, it was Goshen’s tandem offer that
fit the bill.
“We always have loved to play basketball with each other, since
the fourth grade,” McCollum said. “It’s the kind of
thing where you give each other the eye contact and you know
exactly what each other is thinking. We wanted that opportunity (to continue
to play
together) and it came at Goshen. I really liked the academic
side of things, and I like the fact that we could come in and try to make
an impact. I
knew it was the place for me when I visited.”
West agreed.
“The coaching staff made us feel so comfortable, it was like a
home away from home, which it will now be,” West said. “They
really welcomed us with open arms. From a basketball perspective,
we both liked the style of play. Coach Daugherty wants his teams to play
a lot
like we did in high school.”
For Daugherty, the relatively late recruiting additions give
Goshen its deepest class in the Daugherty-era, as McCollum and West join
2006 Alexandria High School guard Lance Carroll (click here for related
article), 2006 Warren Central High School guard Zach Wright (click here for article) and 6-7 Indianapolis Chatard High School swingman Hugh Weiskittel
(click here for article) as the Leafs’ five signed prospects to
date.
“We feel that we got two kids that are good students with excellent
leadership abilities in Errick McCollum and Nate West,” Daugherty
said. “Errick can play either guard spot while Nate can play any
position from a shooting guard to a forward. Both bring quickness
and athleticism that will give us a new dimension on both ends of the
court.
They both are big additions to the future of Goshen College basketball.”
Daugherty said that the final pieces of the puzzle are falling
into place in completing his squad’s 2006-2007 roster. Check back
to this website for continuous updates as the recruiting period continues.
To contact Daugherty, call him at (574) 535-7493 or click here to send
him an email. |
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Errick
McCollum II