FGB Middle School Superstar Camp

Best of the Best: Forward & Post Review

Cream of the Crop

Simiah Blount (Piedmont Lakes)

Karrah Johnson (Lake Highland Prep)

Nuri Muhammad (Odyssey)

Stephanie Marquez (Avalon)

Stephanie Ratliff (Southwest)

3/12/08 - While the guard class at the camp was extremely talented the FGB Staff thought that the forward and post group might have the most immediate impact at the high school level. We start the forward and post group with Karrah Johnson a 5’11’’ 7^th grade forward out of Lake Highland Prep. Johnson has all the tools already to become a solid post player with good hands, excellent mobility and her ability to finish. Not only was Johnson extremely skilled on the offensive end but she came up with several blocks over the day which made you say “Wow”. As Johnson gets taller and adds to her skill set, the sky is the limit on how good she is going to be. We were also very impressed with how much desire and how hard Johnson plays every single play. Going from one post player with tremendous upside to another, we have Southwest Middle’s Stephanie Ratliff who we guessed to already be 6’1’’ in the 7^th grade. Ratliff again like Johnson has a lot of tools which are important when evaluating post players like her hands and mobility. Ratliff ran the floor well, and we really liked her understanding on defense where she did a good job gaining position and not fouling. We think both Johnson and Ratliff could become gems of the 2013 class. Both Ratliff & Johnson we consider “5’s” or post players who will mainly stay on the block but our next player we think is the best combination of a “4” and “5” of the group. Stephanie Marquez displayed a good mid-range game along with being very good around the basket on offense and defense. She also did a great job of passing the ball from all areas of the post and showed great understanding of how to move in the post to make herself most effective. Marquez who says she’s slated for Timber Creek High School next year will become part of the top young post combo in Central Florida next year. We go from 5’s to 4’s with Nuri Muhammad a 5’9’’ lanky forward with tons of upside from Odyssey Middle School. We would not be surprised if Muhammad ended up in 4 years being the top recruit overall. We liked how fluid Muhammad was athletically as well as the things she did on offense and defense around the basket. We were impressed with Nuri’s ability to step away from the basket and still be a threat on offense with the dribble and shot. We think Nuri’s increased ball handling and wing skills will take her as far as she wants to go. Finally, we talk about another versatile player in Simiah Blount of Piedmont Lakes. We were torn on what position to label her as, but with her length and skill around the basket we decided to call her a forward. To us Blount is very similar to Muhammad with her length and ability to be a threat around the basket. Right now Blount is a little more skilled away from the basket and you can tell she is making a smooth transition to the wing out of the post which she will need to do for high school and beyond. We liked how aggressive Simiah was with the ball and how she made plays in a variety of different ways on both ends of the floor. Simiah plays with Sha’la Shervington at Piedmont where again we can’t help but mention again they have not lost a middle school game in more then 2 years. They begin their quest for a second Orange County Middle School Championship and we look forward to getting out and seeing a bunch of these games this weekend.

Other Top Forward & Post Performers

Kelsey Waldroup-Rusitc (Chain of Lakes)

Daija Clark (Legacy)

Halee Davis (CFCA)

Leighlani Paselio (New Port Richey)

3/10/08 – Best of the Best Point Guard Player Review

3/11/08 – Best of the Best Wing Player Review

3/12/08 – Best of the Best Post Player Review

3/14/08 – FGB Middle School April Camp Invitation list