LEXINGTON — For Rasheed Brooks, the road to a major college basketball program ran through rural Tennessee.
A 2012 Lexington High School graduate, Brooks verbally committed to the University of Mississippi of the Southeastern Conference on Monday. He chose Ole Miss over Memphis, UNLV and La Salle. Other suitors included Auburn and Missouri.
The 6-foot-6 shooting guard will play his sophomore season for Southwest Tennessee Community College before heading for Oxford, Miss., in the fall of 2015.
“It feels good to have the decision out of the way and know where I’ll be going,” Brooks said Tuesday morning. “I had offers from several mid-majors and some higher profile programs, but Ole Miss just felt right. The campus was beautiful and I had an immediate connection with the coaching staff and players.
“I’m looking forward to it.”
Despite averaging 16.4 points a game and earning a spot on the Division II All-Ohio special mention list as a senior, Brooks was not highly sought after coming out of high school. He spent one year at Kingdom Prep in Columbus, Ga., where he averaged 20.2 points a game.
“I think the best thing for him both academically and athletically was spending that year in prep school,” said 2005 Mansfield Senior graduate Jon Avery, who has worked with Brooks since the latter’s senior year at Lexington. “It gave him a chance to get his grades straightened out and it exposed him to some great players.
“Rasheed was really good at Lexington, but I don’t think he realized how good he was or how good he could be. Once he got around other good players, he saw that he fit right in.”
From Kingdom Prep, Brooks headed to Southwest Tennessee Community College, a member of the Tennessee Community College Athletic Association located in Memphis, Tenn. He averaged 12.5 points, 4 rebounds, 2.7 assists and a team-high 1.9 steals last winter, helping lead the Saluqis to a 23-4 record. He was selected to the All-TCCAA second team.
“It didn’t surprise me at all to hear he was being recruited by some big-time programs,” said Lex coach Scott Hamilton, who was an assistant under Jamie Feick during Brooks’ senior season. “I was kind of interested to find out if he would go as big as he hoped or if he would land at a mid-major.”
Brooks scored in double figures in 19 of the 26 games he played last season. He scored a career-high 23 points in a 99-89 win at Walters State.
“Even as a senior in high school, he was beginning to show the ability to play the game above the rim,” Hamilton said. “Even then he had the ability to shoot from the perimeter and create his own shot.
“People don’t realize that Rasheed was a young senior. He was so young that, if he had been a senior the following year, he wouldn’t have been the oldest kid on the basketball team (in 2013). When he graduated from Lexington, he was still growing.”
Avery, who like Brooks spent a year at prep school before starring at Division I IUPUI for four seasons (he scored 1,000 points and grabbed 500 rebounds in his career), said the sky is the limit for the lanky shooting guard.
“With his length and his ability to score the basketball, he has so much to offer. He can play two positions in the SEC,” Avery said. “He’s the type of guy you can run your offense through or, if you don’t, he still can get you 16 points. He’s got a high basketball IQ at the offensive end and we are working with him defensively.
“The thing about Rasheed is he wasn’t willing to settle. He could have gone to a mid-major but he knew what he wanted to do and what it would take to get there.”
There is still plenty to improve upon before arriving at Ole Miss in the fall of 2015, Brooks said.
“I need to improve my strength and my ball skills,” Brooks said. “We’re talking about the SEC, so everything needs to get better the higher you go.
“I feel like this is a great opportunity and I can’t wait to get started.”
Follow Curt Conrad on Twitter @curtjconrad.
“I think the best thing for him both academically and athletically was spending that year in prep school,” said 2005 Mansfield Senior graduate Jon Avery, who has worked with Brooks since the latter’s senior year at Lexington. “It gave him a chance to get his grades straightened out and it exposed him to some great players.
