Wednesday, September 17, 2008 11:09 PM CDT
Proof positive: Perrin on right track
By RICK DAWSON, Staff Writer
rdawson@jg-tc.com
MATTOON -- As he dreamed about what it would be like to play against Duke, Spencer Perrin also could only imagine how far this basketball detour has taken him.
A detour that has been as (figuratively) far as his vertical leap is (literally) high.
There was a time when few schools were willing to take a gamble on the Lake Land sophomore. In high school, he transferred from Danville (Ky.) to Lexington Bryan Station but was denied his release. Moving back to Danville as a junior he remained ineligible. Even when Boyle County opened its doors, granting him his only year of high school basketball, interest from colleges was starting to dry up.
Perrin failed to take an ACT, effectively locking him out of NCAA Division I consideration. Beyond his grade problems, he also had developed a reputation for snubbing his nose at teammates who weren’t good enough and being resistant to coaching. So one of the top 50 players in the state was JUCO bound.
“It affected my recruitment a lot because I had so much that I had to prove,” Perrin said. “Some people didn’t think I’d get through it because of my attitude. When I went to Boyle County, some people didn’t think I would get through it because Coach (Ronnie) Bottoms was such a tough coach.”
Next year marks his return to his home state, and this time the circumstances are different. Eastern Kentucky offered him a scholarship and he verbally committed on Monday, turning down offers from Evansville, Idaho and South Dakota. Among the schools that have most recently been on the Colonels’ non-conference schedule are Duke and Kentucky.
The prospect of playing a team of that caliber has Perrin salivating – especially since Lake Land coach Cedric Brown offers a bold prediction by saying that the athletic forward will get “paid to play” someday.
“He’s always been a kid that’s had the desire to work hard, the desire to be the best,” Brown said. “He wants to compete at the highest level. He’s a great young man. He’s a young man that has had some learning challenges along the way. Because he’s such a great athlete, there was some social promotion going on. Now that he’s got a grasp of that … it’s more important to him now. He understands that, ‘I need to buckle down in the classroom so that I can continue my success on the court.’”
One can easily see that Perrin is teeming with potential. His vertical jump has been measured at 44 inches. He added 20 pounds to his frame in the offseason and is now listed at a sturdy 6-foot-5, 200. He averaged 12 points as a freshman and was third on the Lakers in rebounding.
But he was also somewhat of a project when he arrived. Most of his basketball experience came while playing with the Central Kentucky Warriors of the AAU ranks. If anything, his ballhandling skills and jump shot were in need of refinement. He also had to learn how to play without his back to the basket.
“Yes (he was a project), because at the next level he has to play a guard position whether it be shooting guard or small forward,” Brown said. “Being 6-5, he’s a prototypical wing player. I knew that him being a post player and then playing him at the 4 and 5 spots, because of his size and his athleticism, it was going to be a transformation process for him.
“But he’s worked tremendously hard over the summer time and then last spring to bring his skills to where they are right now. He is a highly regarded athlete to Division I college recruiters.”
Teammates refer to Perrin as “Bookey,” a nickname he was given by stepmother Mona Lisa Perrin. Brown also calls him “Junior,” since he has the same name as his father. He is the best basketball talent in his family – older stepbrother Ken, 23, played football and baseball in high school; younger brother Tyson, 12, probably counts soccer as his best sport.
Plenty of eyes will no doubt follow him when he gets to Richmond. As much as anything, though, his very return to Kentucky shows how far he’s come in less than three years.
“It’s really not a school that I would have ever expected to go to,” he said. “I thought that I would always be away from home. But Eastern, you know, they offered me pretty good and their coaching staff is great.
“Basically I want to go back home because I’ve got stuff to prove.”
In that regard, he’s on the right track.
Contact Rick Dawson at rdawson@jg-tc.com or 238-6855.
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