The Arkansas Razorbacks men's basketball team is one of three finalists for four-star guard Keyshawn Embery of Midwest City (Okla.), thanks in large part to the efforts of head coach Mike Anderson and assistant T.J Cleveland.
Embery, 6-4, 187 pounds, played his junior year at Midwest City (Okla.) High School, but arrived in Bradenton, Fla. last weekend to report to IMG Academy for his senior year. He's expected to arrive in Fayetteville today for the start of his official visit.
He played spring and summer basketball for 17-under Oklahoma Run PWP, which is coached by his adoptive father, Jermaine Simpson.
Simpson praised the recruiting efforts of head Coach Mike Anderson Anderson and assistant TJ Cleveland.
"TJ has obviously been the one that really started recruiting him first and Coach Anderson has really been consistent, and it's something we both liked to be able to hear from the guy he's actually going to play for," Simpson said.
Embery helped Midwest City to a 23-4 record while averaging 26.8 points, 5.6 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.6 steals as a junior. Future150.com rates him a 4-star prospect, Oklahoma's No. 1 recruit and the nation's No. 70 overall prospect.
Simpson said Embery will officially visit his other two finalists, Texas A&M on Sept. 9 and West Virginia on Sept. 15, but also mentioned that Kansas has showed interest in recent weeks.
"Obviously no offer is there on the table," Simpson said of Kansas, "so he's just focused on those three."
The Hogs have been recruiting Embery for more than a year and extended a scholarship offer to him in July. Embery now has more than 20 offers from other schools like Arizona State, Nebraska, Kansas State, Houston, Virginia Tech and Oklahoma State.
Embery's stock took off during the summer while playing for Simpson's Run PWP after an average spring showing.
"We were able to take something some college coaches said they wanted to see him work on and he really got to it ," Simpson said. "He took the month of June and he was in the gym probably 30 of the 31 days just fine-tuning some small things that they wanted to see. Of course, him being a leader that was one of the biggest things and then just him actually controlling the pace of the game Those are two things he really did well this summer."
Embery's relationship with Simpson goes back to his 7th grade year. Simpson and his wife LaKeisha brought Embery into their home his freshman year of high school.
"Keyshawn has always been a little bit more mature than everyone else in his age group became of what he's been through in his life," said Simpson, who along with his wife will be accompanying Embery on the Arkansas visit. "I always tell people he could've easily gone down many different roads, but somehow he managed to maneuver through life because he's pretty much been moving lot since the fifth grade maybe."
Simpson said in the short time Embery has spent at IMG Academy it has made him realize he wants to find a school that feels like home.
"It opened his eyes to 'I'm going to be away from home, so I need that place to be something that I'll be comfortable with on my good days and on those bad days,' " Simpson said.
Another factor in making a decision will be the school's coaching staff.
"He wants coaches who that are not only going to coach him hard on the court, but also push him as an individual and as a young man off the court," Simpson said.
Simpson said Embery has gone from a 2.0 grade point average to a 3.6 GPA since moving in with the Simpsons.
"We've seen a drastic increase to what he was doing as a C-D student his first semester when we first got him to finishing with A's and B's," Simpson said.
E-mail Richard Davenport at rdavenport@arkansasonline.com
Sports on 09/01/2017