Top hoops prospect Malik Newman received 121 recruiting texts from coaches at once
Ever wonder what would happen if you were a top-5 prep prospect and for some reason you were completely unreachable on the first day that coaches could contact you? Now we all know thanks to rising junior hoops superstar Malik Newman.
Newman, the No. 3 overall prospect in the Class of 2015 Rivals 150, has played both of his first two scholastic seasons at Jackson (Miss.) Callaway High. He was out of the country on June 15, when the floodgates officially open and coaches can begin contacting prospective recruits at midnight. More specifically, Newman was competing with the rest of the U.S. U-16 national team in Uruguay at the FIBA America’s Championship, which he and his American counterparts won by epic proportions. In the process, Newman took home MVP honors and was recognized as the tournament’s breakout star.
According to USA Today, when Newman returned two days later he immediately turned on his cell phone while his plane taxied toward the runway. It didn’t stop buzzing with incoming text messages for more than five minutes.
"It was crazy," Newman told USA Today. "I've never gotten that many texts at one time."
In all, the Class of 2015 superstar received 121 texts at once. He claims that he received outreach messages from more schools than one could imagine, ranging from very introductory texts to elaborate pitches for individual schools.
Meanwhile, Newman’s father, Horatio Webster, kept track of all the coaches who were reaching out via more traditional methods: The telephone. Within minutes North Carolina State, Duke, Georgia and Kansas had all reached out to the Mississippi star.
While Newman admitted that all the attention was a bit of a surprise, he was quick to make clear that he was excited to get the recruiting process underway, even if it happened with a bit more phone buzzing that he might have expected.
Every school you can think of sent me texts," said Newman, who hails from Callaway (Callaway, Miss.). "I wasn't expecting all of that. It's pretty exciting. I guess this is the start of all the recruiting stuff. I've heard it gets crazy, but hopefully not crazier than getting 121 texts at once."
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