Southport's Scruggs considering playing football this season
How would Paul Scruggs, one of the country's top high school basketball prospects, look in a football uniform?
It probably depends on your perspective. But Scruggs, a 6-3 guard with a 6-9 wingspan, would certainly cut a striking figure at wide receiver for Southport High School this fall.
Will he? At this point, it's under consideration.
"I really haven't decided yet," Scruggs said on Saturday at the Adidas Invitational at North Central.
Scruggs, ranked No. 29 in the 2017 class nationally by Rivals, is close friends with Southport quarterback Luke Johnston. As a junior, Johnston passed for 3,228 yards and 28 touchdowns. Scruggs hasn't played football since the fourth grade, but his strength and athleticism would make him an enticing player.
Scruggs said he has participated in some workouts with the football team over the summer.
"I don't think it'd take away from basketball because I'd still be in the gym most of the time when I'm not doing football," Scruggs said. "The football coaches are supportive of me doing basketball. I don't know when I'll decide for sure. I haven't thought about it too much yet."
Southport is coming off back-to-back sectional titles in football and is a combined 20-4 those two seasons.
Scruggs, who was watched Saturday by Indiana coach Tom Crean in multiple games and has offers from Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan State, Purdue, Wake Forest and Xavier, played in the prestigious Under Armour All-American Camp in Charlotte, N.C., earlier in the week.
"It was a fun experience," Scruggs said. "I'd love to go again. There was some top competition, but I felt like I played very well."
Scruggs said he'd like to get to Illinois, Indiana and Kansas sometime after July but hasn't yet set any dates.
• Crown Point's Grant Gelon continued his big week at the Adidas Invitational with a 19-point effort in a 76-68 win for Indiana Elite Central over the Eric Gordon Central Stars in the quarterfinals of the 17U bracket on Saturday.
Gelon is 25-for-47 from the 3-point line through six tournament games this week. That falls in line with what the 6-5 guard produced during the high school season for Crown Point. He set a school record with 102 3-pointers as a junior and shot 43 percent.
"I'm trying to be a better all-around player this summer, but that's probably the main focus of my play is my shooting ability," said Gelon, who averaged 14.3 points a game as a junior.
Gelon does not yet have a Division I offer, but is getting interest from programs such as Denver, Furman, Illinois State, Iona, IUPUI, Montana State, Western Michigan and Youngstown State.
"There's no pressure," Gelon said of his recruitment. "You just go out there and leave it on the floor. It's the last summer being able to play this great sport (for travel ball). I'm having a blast with this team."
• Indiana Elite Central will play King James-OV in a 17U semifinal game at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday at North Central. The other 17U semifinal will be Ohio-based Team Work vs. either UPlay Canada or Kentucky-based Team Manimal at 10:30 a.m. in North Central's main gym. UPlay Canada is led by 6-10 Nolan Narain, who attends La Lumiere and is committed to San Diego State.
• Crean spent most of the day bouncing between games involving Scruggs, North Central's Kris Wilkes and Cathedral guard Eron Gordon.
• Indiana teams were shut out in the semifinals of the 16U bracket. The semifinals will both be played at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday at the Fieldhouse in Fishers – the St. Louis-based Ramey Jets United vs. Greenwood Elite (Michigan) and the Kentucky Grind vs. Ohio Basketball Club White.
The 15U bracket will be played entirely at the Fieldhouse in Fishers on Sunday, beginning with four quarterfinal games at 9:15 a.m.