The Prospect Report: Thursday, June 20th

News and Information from the recruiting world

Halle Thompson comes as a bit of a surprise, mostly because they had already more or less added 2 OH’s already.  Even though I don’t know if you ever pass up on a talent like Thompson if they want to come to your program.  Thompson is a year-one impact player no doubt.

We keep getting messages about Ayanna Watson and Jayden Robinson’s status.  I still believe that Watson will be taking her time and taking visits so it will be August or even into the Fall for her.  Robinson on the other hand could be any minute, hour, or day.  She should commit very soon.

Nationals means a nice break:  Many of the 2026’s are now in Orlando for AAU Nationals, which means different things for different athletes.

1. Athletes that have been taking call after call get a few days break to think, relax, and play volleyball.
2. Athletes that haven’t had many calls get seen again by colleges that may be reshuffling their prospect lists, due to other athletes accepting offers at other schools already.

Why the rush?  

People want to talk about so many athletes committing in the first 2-3 days of the open period and why kids are rushing to decisions.  From what I’m hearing a major reason for the quick commits is that many of recruits are being forced to with “hard deadlines”.

Hard Deadlines have been a real thing for many of these top prospects this week and they have been given the ultimatum of deciding very quickly or lose your offer from our school.

One P4 coach told us “Not giving a hard deadline 100% hurt us with our top target.  I think you are seeing some programs (that probably got hurt last year by not hard-deadlining kids) being very aggressive this year.”

The UCLA staff has had a great week.  The state of Arizona has quite a bit of talent and the Bruins have grabbed a bit of it while locking in some of the home-state stars.  

Still, Metro DC stars are available.  Nadiya Johnson has gained a lot of headlines the past week, but there are still several of her Metro DC teammates who will earn D1 scholarship opportunities.  Two to watch Bryah Breaux and Morgan Johnson. Both are getting a lot of attention by Top 25 programs.  I’m a little surprised that Breaux is still uncommitted because of her size and reach (6’5” and 10’8”) and Williams was one of the top OH’s coming into this club season.

#1 MB Keoni Williams is another that will take her time.  It has been rumored that she is planning July camps so look for the Dallas, TX prospect to wait until at least then to decide.

More to come as the weekend comes….thanks for following

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