RD Conversation with Jayla Hemingway’s dad post in-home

[psycHOGlogist]

I enjoyed this conversation between Richard Davenport and Jayla Hemingway's dad. Jayla is one of our most coveted 2019 recruits, mentioned in a couple other threads on the board. Sounds like the visit went well, though I suspect Mr. Hemingway is a savvy enough guy that he's going to say pretty positive things about all the coaches that they talk to. It definitely sounds like Coach Neighbors (and Coach Schaefer) make a very positive impression on the families that they recruit, however, and that we are definitely in the running for Jayla's commitment.

https://soundcloud.com/user-664111694/032218-recruiting-jeff-hemingway-father-of-jayla-hemingway

[flippinhogmana]

thanks as usual for your quality post.  Here is a somewhat companion article to your post Pscyh (as well as some of your additional posts) from October.  I am tremendously impressed with Jayla's dad.  Not only does he know his daughter and her skills, he is very much like a coach in preparing her while still being her supportive dad.  I greatly appreciated his interview.

https://www.pressreader.com/usa/arkansas-democrat-gazette/20171027/282179356337028

[flippinhogmana]

this is also an interesting read - among other things is shows a very slimmed down Destinee Oberg - as well as Jayla. 

https://prospectsnation.com/story/breaking-down-2019-class

[psycHOGlogist]

Jayla Hemingway is set to announce her commitment on 4/17 at 3 pm. Arkansas made her final short list of 4 schools.

https://twitter.com/neb_media/status/986059953621405701

If I were to put money on it, I'd say MSU. And I'd bet a decent wager. But I'm hoping for the Hogs.

[flippinhogmana]

Jayla Hemingway is set to announce her commitment on 4/17 at 3 pm. Arkansas made her final short list of 4 schools.

https://twitter.com/neb_media/status/986059953621405701

If I were to put money on it, I'd say MSU. And I'd bet a decent wager. But I'm hoping for the Hogs.

Well we will see her for the next four years one way or the other, and it certainly looks like MSST is hoping you are right.

[psycHOGlogist]

Indeed, it's Mississippi State. She announced with a cowbell lol.

Wish her well, except when she plays the Hogs.

[Hogtied85]

The question now becomes who's next? Disappointed we didn't get Jayla so who do we go after next? Haley Jones???

[Hogtied85]

Jayla Hemingway is set to announce her commitment on 4/17 at 3 pm. Arkansas made her final short list of 4 schools.

https://twitter.com/neb_media/status/986059953621405701

If I were to put money on it, I'd say MSU. And I'd bet a decent wager. But I'm hoping for the Hogs.

just curious but what made we say msst???

[Hogtied85]

What made you say Miss St.

[flippinhogmana]

I am pretty sure Psych's answer might include that MsST was all over here twitter announcemnt of her time for choosing among her finalists.  It showed a lot of optimism on their part in my opinion at the time. 

Three of the four top schools in the conference are in for a lot of retooling this year (the exception is Georgia).  I think she will have a chance to get more immediate playing time at starkville than she would have been apt to get here.

[psycHOGlogist]

Several recruiting experts predicted MS St, and it seemed that Jayla's twitter activity showed a preference for the Bulldogs (retweeting messages from HailState fans, one current MS State player, etc.).

As has been noted in some other threads, there are lots of 2019's out there that have Arkansas offers. Jayla was certainly at the top of our board, and it stinks that we didn't land her (though who can blame someone for picking a team that has played for the NCAA championship each of the last 2 years?), but there are other options out there.

We already have 2019 commits from Destinee Oberg, Ginger Reece, and MaKayla Daniels. Oberg and Reece are top 100 kids on ProspectsNation, and Daniels is on their "watch list," and I expect her to move up some, perhaps inside the top 100. We are doing very well with 2019 recruiting so far.  We have offered the following players (I believe):

Marquesha Davis - small forward, Springdale
Kennedy Tucker - pg, North Little Rock (very unlikely, imo)
Sarah Dumitrescu - 6'1" w, IMG Academy (FL)
Jadyn Byrd - 6'4" post, Jenks
McKenna Warnock, 6'0" w, Wisconsin
Gabby Gregory, 6'0" sf, Holland Hall, OK

I think we have offered Tiara Young, a 5'10" guard from Shreveport. We have had an in-home with her, for sure.

All of these players, except Byrd, are ranked in either the ESPN Hoopgulrz or ProspectsNation top 60/100 for 2019. And Byrd has several P5 offers including OU, OK State, Clemson, Florida, and us (along with Tulsa, LA Tech, and FIU).

Honestly not sure where we stand with any of these folks (except Tucker, who I just don't think is coming after Daniels's commitment) — many of them have a lot of offers, and women's hoops recruiting just doesn't get the same press coverage that men's gets. It might be hard to get either of the OK kids out of state, and they both have offers to the big, in-state schools. Warnock has a ton of offers and is reportedly very smart, so she's looking at schools like Stanford (no idea if there is mutual interest. ETA - found this about her: https://premierbasketballreport.com/news/get-to-know). There are probably a lot more 2019s out there with Hog offers that we don't know about.

It would be pointless to try to jump in on a blue chip kid at this point that we haven't already been recruiting, and who wasn't already considering us.

Hoping we get some more good news soon, but for now we just have to sit back and see what happens. WPS!

[psycHOGlogist]

Quick correction - Davis from Springdale is not a top 100 kid, but she is currently rated as the top 2019 player in Arkansas by ArkansasBasketballRankings (and they have dropped Tucker to the 5th-best 2019 in the state - ouch. Her national ranking is still high, so curious about what is going on there.)

[BWS]

Kennady Tucker committed to Mississippi State.

[psycHOGlogist]

Kennady Tucker committed to Mississippi State.

You're right! Hadn't seen that until your message. Apparently happened yesterday, maybe overshadowed by Hemingway news? Good for her. Like I said, I know we had her on an unofficial, but it was never clear to me how much mutual interest there was. The Little Rock/Central AR AAU family seems to have a big affinity for MSU - Danberry is now there, Bre'Amber Scott, Roshunda Johnson transferred there, and now Tucker. And they were also among Yo'Myris Morris's finalists. Nice little pipeline there.

I am pretty happy with Daniels, tbh. No idea how she compares to Tucker, but Daniels is a great kid with a super attitude. Good for the program.

Will be interesting to see if landing Barnum helps Coach Neighbors get his toe in the door around Little Rock.

[nwahogfan1]

Can we do good enough National recruiting and cherry picking Arkansas to get us into the top tier in the SEC?  That is the question.  Anytime we get a junior to commit over 100 miles away and she blows up on the national scene it makes me nervous if we can hang onto her.   

I think Ms St is doing so well because they are losing so many seniors and they have that National exposure.    But We have so much more to offer than Starksville so I am hoping we can start beating them out for recruits soon. 

[brs_hogfan]

Quick correction - Davis from Springdale is not a top 100 kid, but she is currently rated as the top 2019 player in Arkansas by ArkansasBasketballRankings (and they have dropped Tucker to the 5th-best 2019 in the state - ouch. Her national ranking is still high, so curious about what is going on there.)

I have watched almost all of the 2019 in-state players and Davis is definitely top of the list in my opinion. And definitely should be top 50 nationally (maybe top 25). She really has picked-up her game (and she was already good when we offered her). She led the 7A West conference in scoring and averaged a double-double. I would be excited for us to land her.

I also watched Tucker a couple of times and in those games, she did not do much. I do generally not put much stock in ArkansasBasketballRankings as they are frequently wildly off on the player rankings in my opinion, but from the games I watched, putting Tucker at 5th in the state for the 2019's is about right.

[psycHOGlogist]

Thanks for the observation-based update. The film I have seen of Davis is impressive. She is FAST.