Sedrick Drayton (6-foot-8, 245 pounds), a former Lake Marion High School star who initially chose not to pursue college basketball as a freshman in 2011, became the 10th player to sign with the Indians since March.
Garrett said that the addition of Drayton to wrap up his summer player search was a significant yet unexpected victory on the recruiting front.
“Sedrick was a bit of a surprise,” Garrett said. “I saw him play in high school, but hadn’t heard from him since. Then he just called me out of the blue and said he’d like to play college basketball. He came out for a workout, and was very impressive. He fills a need for a physical type of post player.”
Drayton’s addition will immediately fill a void being left behind by Emilio Parks (6-6, 250), who recently signed with Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte after just one season with the Indians.
Combined with sophomores Lucell Hanson (6-7, 255), who Garrett has said is his best overall player despite the fact that he missed all of the 2011-12 season with a severe ankle injury, and Montel Baines (6-6, 225), Drayton will provide Salkehatchie with perhaps the deepest and most talented corps of post players in NJCAA Region X.
Garrett also signed three other incoming freshman forwards - DJ Leggette (6-6, 200) from Latta, Walterboro’s own Frankell Williams (6-6, 190), and Darryl Bridges (6-5, 230) out of Atlanta, Ga. - who will each figure into the mix for playing time.
The majority of players who inked with the Indians were guards, but Garrett has pegged two players - Walterboro native Robert Howard (6-6, 185) and Gregory Honeycutt (6-5, 190) of Cowpens - to potentially see time on the perimeter and in the paint because of their size combined with their ball-handling and shooting skills.
At the guard position, Garrett signed four players. They are: Seth Coleman (6-5 180) and Ismail Howard (6-3, 180) from Columbia, Harold Langley (6-1, 160) of Andrews, and Denzel Collins (6-1, 215) from Savannah, Ga.
“I’m real pleased with the recruiting class as a whole,” Garrett said. “I think they’ve all got good size, and we’ve got some really good young guards. I think they’re all guys who can come in and help us right away.”
