The Recruiting Guy

UNDER THE RADAR: Mills' Branton McCrary

2019 guard Branton McCrary.

Each Wednesday we feature an in-state prospect that could be flying under the radar of college coaches. This week's UTR basketball prospect is Mills guard Branton McCrary.

Class: 2019

Position: Guard

Size: 6-0, 170 pounds

Stats: As a junior, 13.4 points, 4.3 assists, 3 rebounds, 2.3 steals, shot 69 percent from the field and 49 percent from 3-point range.

Interest: Kansas State, Missouri and several mid-majors, including Middle Tennessee, Missouri State, Abilene Christian and Texas State.

Notable: Suffered broken foot late during the regular season at Mills.

Coach: Joe Johnson Arkansas Hawks Chairman Bill Ingram

“He’s a guy that can play the point or play the combo guard for you, and he’s electrifying on defense. He has the potential to being high major. He was going down that path of probably being a high major player, and of course, the injury slowed him up. One of these mid-major schools, they’ll probably get a very good player, and he will be a steal for them. Branton is a big-time player. Like I said, the only thing that slowed him up was he broke his foot, and he’s still recovering from that.”

Limited during summer basketball:

“We thought he would get back to about 80 percent this summer, but it was still a little sore for him because he plays the game at such a fast pace. We played him a little bit. I didn't really want to push him too much and wanted to make sure he was healthy and 100 percent for his high school's season. When I looked at him in July, I said he would probably be a 100 percent around September or October at the latest. When you get a kid like that, you just don't want to risk him getting injured again.”

College coaches want to see a healthy McCray during high school season:

“They want to evaluate him when he’s 100 percent healthy. When he’s 100 precent in high school, he’ll be a dominant player. They won't be disappointed in what they see in high school.”