As of early March, 24 athletes from Sunnyslope High School will become college athletes with 9 of those athletes still needing to decide on a home.
First of all, though, it should be noted that having this amount of athletes holding offers is spectacular.
“It is very rewarding to know that our students know the importance of continuing their education and that they are able to do so while continuing to play sports,” said Athletic Director Tim Matteson, “This is due to the incredible amount of support our teachers and coaches provide to our students – along with the encouragement and tools our students need to pursue their personal and educational goals. It makes me realize that this is truly a great place to be!”
It is also likely no coincidence that all these athletes receiving attention has lined up with one the most all-around successful years in recent times for Sunnyslope athletics.
“When programs do well, people take notice. When students within those programs excel to a certain level – they stand out,” Matteson Said, “When coaches care about their student-athletes the way ours do, those students have a greater opportunity to experience success. We have a lot of kids who work hard to make sure they get noticed and a lot of teachers and coaches who encourage them along the way.”
Of the 10 uncommitted athletes, 5 are seniors with them being football players Colin Liftshshitz, Keynon Clark, David Gillespie, and Deven Broady (who also holds offers for track), and the last one being Basketball player Beau Hartman.
Out of this list, Liftshitz holds the most offers with 12 highlighted by Lake Forest College and Fort Lewis and he said,” Having so many choices is amazing to me, knowing that I am valued enough at so many schools as an athlete and a student” adding on that he wouldn’t take anything from the process back having greatly enjoyed all the places he visited.
Liftshitz did a lot of work beyond just gathering tape to get himself recruited, which was important.
“I learned a lot about recruiting from many of my peers, they taught me how to use Twitter(X) to gain exposure for college coaches, I started DMing coaches and filling out forms, enough to where my effort was noticed,” Liftshitz said, “I also got help through my coaches at Training better athletes as well as Coach Perrone at MyRecruits, all of whom have helped me through this process.”
Liftshitz will have his pick of the crop for where he goes but it’s a little different for his teammates Gillespie who holds offers from Lake Forest and Beloit College as well as Broady who holds offers from Minot State, Culver Stockton, and UW Riverfalls for football though has offers for track too from Indiana State and Southern Utah.
Clark, on the other hand, committed during the time that “’24 Sees 24 Go” was being printed deciding to go to DII Black Hills State University.
Hartman, on the other hand, holds a sole offer from Lawrence University located in Wisconsin and is coming off a career year.
4 underclassmen from the basketball team field a variety of offers with Sophomores Ryder Portella and John Mattingly having been offered scholarships from a total of 5 schools including Northern Arizona for both.
Freshman Delton Prescott and Darrius Wabbington have 8 offers total highlighted by Arizona State for each.
Sunnyslope is quickly becoming a school that has the ability to send kids to college for whatever sport they want and the amount of scholarships is only going to increase.
Matteson said, “Your experiences in all things will be what you make them – so make them great and always Fight On!”