Recently, I received the chance to interview 2021 Five Star Forward, Harrison Ingram.
In the past decade, high school basketball has completely evolved. Everything from the EYBL (Elite Youth Basketball League), to social media companies like Slam and Overtime, have completely changed the landscape of the game for years to come. High school basketball players, especially the highly ranked ones, have a lot on their plate during the season. Games will take them to the other side of the country at times, as will tournaments.
Along with constant media attention and daily workouts, these players hardly have time for anything other than basketball related activities. Things such as schoolwork, and seeing friends/family have to take a backseat during the season. Harrison Ingram, a five-star Small Forward from Dallas, TX, is a great example of how to manage a busy basketball schedule, as well as excelling in school. In this interview, we talk about Harrison’s recruiting process, junior basketball season, school, and more.
On May 11, 2020, Ingram released his top-ten schools. UNC, Michigan, Louisville, Stanford, and Purdue were among the list. When I asked how the ten schools separated themselves from the others, he said, “All ten of these colleges all have shown me love from the entire coaching staff, and all of them meet my wants and needs for basketball and education.” Schools like Kansas, UCLA, Georgetown, and others were left out of his list. Ingram will cut his list to six schools on August 1.
Ingram led St. Marks High School to a 29-4 record, as well as an SPC state championship victory. When I asked about the feeling he had when the clock hit zero, he stated, “All our hard work had paid off. We lost our gym to a tornado, and weren’t able to practice as much as we wanted or needed to. We overcame that and rebounded from a tough loss in the semis last year.”
Ingram also got the chance to play in the Dallas Mavericks arena against the seventh best team in the nation, Prolific Prep. This game was no easy task, as they had two McDonald’s All-Americans in Jalen Green and Nimari Burnett, as well as three four-star players in Anselem, Mag, and Gigiberia. The final score ended up being 57-44 with Prolific Prep taking home the win. Ingram said, “It was crazy. Nobody thought we were going to win that game, but we came out hard and competed. We should have won and made some mistakes on the back end that cost us the game. My dream is to play in the NBA, so playing on that court was crazy!”
You know a player is special when he is the definition of a student-athlete. According to the New York Times, the average GPA of a high school athlete that plays basketball is a 2.84. Harrison Ingram’s is a 4.0, which is a solid A average. I asked Ingram, “How important is education to you, and is a school’s academic background a factor in your commitment?” He responded with, “Education is important because you can never take it away. Basketball can be gone in a second, but education will be there for the rest of my life. Won’t factor that much into my decision because all schools in my top 10 meet the requirement.” With an exceptional work ethic in school, and already having a fantastic skillset on the court, Ingram will be valuable to any university he attends.
Coming into the 2020 season, the spotlight will be on Ingram as he is a top-ten player in the nation. At 17 years old, sometimes the attention can get to the player. I asked Ingram how he deals with the spotlight, and who were some people that helped him through his journey. He said, “I look at it all as a blessing. I love interacting with fans and media to show them love for giving me love. Really just my parents and my best friends who have been with me through this journey. I keep my circle tight.”
St. Marks is ranked as the 23rd best team heading into the upcoming season by MaxPreps. I asked Ingram, “What can people expect from this team and Harrison Ingram next season?” He said, “We will put on a show every game. We can shoot the ball really well and will be playing one of the toughest schedules in Texas history!
Huge thanks to Harrison for doing the interview!
Photo: SB Nation / Josh Pick
