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#Power24 – Some Underclassmen to Know Going Forward

#Power24 - Some Underclassmen to Know Going Forward
July 31, 2022

MARIETTA, GA – Another July Live Period event for OTR, another jaunt around the ATL-Metro for me, as once again with another terrific field of Southeast travel programs on hand I took my act to multiple locations to get a good flavor.

The coaching turnout was once again elite, as there just isn’t a platform in the Southeast region that combines the highest level of competition together with the highest number of coaches in attendance.

In this piece we look at some of the 2025 guys and below who made impressions, names again that you may have heard but others are still yet set to make loud announcements this coming season (Georgia high schools in parentheses).

By: Keith Agran

Ethan Carter | SF | Game Elite 360 | 2025 (Arlington Christian)

The 2025 Game Elite bunch seeking better competition for its lineup of young studs was rewarded with  the 17U schedule of a team that didn’t make it and promptly went 2-0 Saturday at Kell vs a pair of solid 17U opponents, once again standing out was Carter as the 6-6 combo wing and interior force showed why he’s one of the fastest risers in a stacked 2025 class and a future top prospect in the Region, the near entirety of this 15U roster is filled with names to know as Christian Curl, Max McNeill, Connor Staphylaris and Jackson McVey all looked really good in spurts.

Aiden Weaver | SG | Game Elite 360 | 2025 (Etowah)

Part slyly and part emphatically has Weaver stamped his name on the local recruiting scene with a thunderous combo of high-flying antics at the rim and humble and sound basketball below it, with Carter and the other names mentioned above he has helped turn this Game Elite 360 15U bunch into one of the best watches on the age group circuit, Etowah is stacked with studs for the upcoming winter yet it will be hard as it was during his stellar June to miss the contributions of this rising talent.

Shiva Atwal | SG | 1Family | 2025 

Widely regarded as the top independent organization in Florida and among the top in all of the Southeast it’s always must-see viewing when a 1Family group comes through the gym, I had seen the 15U’s play at #Elite32 as well but their most recent bunch featured a showing by Atwal that was advanced and filled with promise, older brother Krishen is a highly regarded prospect on the 17U team and Shiva has a bright future as well as the lefty can seriously stroke it from 3-land and has size and skill already around 6-5 that portend even better things.

Charlie Gersmehl & Will Dopfer | PF’s | Redline Athletics | 2026 (South Forsyth and Lambert)

As big a draw as 1Family is coming into the gym huge props have to be given to this first-year organization based in Forsyth County which entered #Power24 playing up all weekend and promptly took the Florida giants to OT and prevailed behind the play of Gersmehl and Dopfer in a terrific ballgame on Day 2, it’s been a strong spring and summer showing overall and high-level stuff coming from this group pulling from the growing Forsyth hoops movement with long-time coach Jay Gibbons at the helm and Brian Burns pulling the strings in the background, Gersmehl is also a rising baseball pitching prospect but the kind of grit both he and Dopfer displayed against 1Family when needed most was notable, on the hardwood these two have really intriguing possibilities to unleash for the next 3 seasons and their development will be fun to watch and surely draw coaching eyeballs northward from the ATL-Metro.

Tylan Lewis & Jeremy Jackson | Team Mookie Betts | 2025 

Just as impressive as 1Family can be so was Team Mookie Betts out of Nashville as the 17’s drew raves at Next Play 360 and I was pumped to see their 15’s as well, a deep pool of talent was led by good-looking PG prospect Lewis and physical 2-guard Jackson, Lewis was both a skillset and IQ mismatch for virtually everyone in the age group while Jackson showed off a strong bull feature as well as plenty of smoothness, both join up to 4 others who showed future college-level ability and both this organization (just finishing up its 2nd year) and group of players will be Volunteer State entities to know for sure.

FOUR OTHER GEORGIA 15U’S TO WATCH FROM WHEELER ACTION SUNDAY:

RYAN CAIN, SG, HOOPATLANTA (LOVETT) 

MAKHI CUNNINGHAM, PG, FLAME 2025 (CENTRAL GWINNETT)

KASH LAMAR, SG, GEORGIA STUNNERS (SOUTH PAULDING)

BRANTON ALLEN, SG, AJ BOUYE ELITE (STEPHENSON)

Keith Agran has lived in Georgia since 2011 and joined OTR as a National Evaluator in 2021. He previously scouted for Prep Hoops dating back to 2019 and has both a championship-coaching background on the HS-level and daily newspaper writing experience, both from New Jersey. You can reach him at keithagran1@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @BracketSage.


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