Jonathan Isaac is a 6-foot-9, 17-year old small forward from Bradenton (FL) IMG Academy who may still grow to 7-feet.
Yet he models his game after Kevin Durant and wants to perfect his guard skills.
“I’m just trying to work on guard skills,” Isaac told SNY.tv by phone on Thursday. “I don’t want to go into college thinking I’m a stretch four. I want to be a guard when I go to college.”
You don’t see too many 6-9 guards, to say nothing of 7-foot ones.
But Isaac said his doctors told him he may still grow a few more inches.
“When I went to the doctor, I heard 7-1,” he said.
Isaac is doing a postgraduate year at IMG and will have his 16 core classes on time to graduate, Mahoney said.
It’s no wonder that some 30 schools are interested in Isaac, who reportedly has added recent offers from Miami, Florida, Murray State, Vanderbilt, Xavier, West Virginia, Alabama, Memphis, Texas Tech and Auburn (per Joey Natale).
Kentucky also called Isaac Thursday night, IMG coach John Mahoney said.
“I was excited,” Isaac told SNY.tv. “He just said they like my game and they’re going to recruit me hard.”
“It’s a lot” of schools,” Isaac added. “They all want to talk to me every day.”
“He hasn’t narrowed his list,” Mahoney said. “We’re going to try to trim his list down soon. We counted 30 some schools have been calling and writing and coming to see him practice. I know he doesn’t want to put 10 schools and then all of a sudden people think that’s his 10.”
He added: “After the summer [with Each 1 Teach 1], he will get it down to a manageable 5-7 teams after July.” Isaac’s recruitment continues to explode as he trains as a three man.
“He has great footwork, great handle, great perimeter [skills],” Mahoney said. “Obviously, he’s gotta get stronger. We’re working on his perimeter skills because he does handle it like a guard.
“He has a beautiful release…It’s a pure shot.”
