DeShawn Riddick '14 Recruiting Profile

~~My drive is to be the best person and basketball player that I can be and make my parents proud. I love to push the tempo of the game and set up players for scoring opportunities. I am an extremely competitive basketball player, who gives you leadership and 100 percent effort at all times. When it comes to learning something new I pick up on it quickly, It doesn’t matter whether it a new play that coach puts in or something in the classroom. If I don’t understand something I’m not afraid to ask questions because it won’t help me to go on not knowing what to do. A lot of people come to me for help in school even the athletes on the basketball and football team. As of today I'm working on and getting better with my time management. When I’m in a slump or I’m having trouble with something I like to stick with it and stick it out because I normally get it eventually and start doing well also that’s on the court or the classroom. I’m getting use to using a planner to keep track of my time and all my assignments that I have and what day they are all do so I can be more organized. I am about 5’10 without shoes on, I weigh about 160lbs I feel like I need to be bigger so whenever we go the weight room I take I serious and lift hard every time the whole time we are there. My freshmen year I was on varsity I was the only freshmen to be on varsity in about 6 years at John B. Connally high school. When it comes to practice or a game I bring leadership and encouragement and basically another coach on the floor. I am a hard worker, I work hard every time I’m on the floor weather it’s a drill a scrimmage or a game I’m going to be going 110% the whole time. That’s how I’ve been coached since I was about four years old I had a coach that was so strict that in the middle of a game he made the team run suicides because we weren’t playing hard enough. I’m always the first one to the locker room for practice or the first person there for watching film the day after a game. During practice I always lead us in our stretches or our drills I am always competing I hate to lose at anything. Whenever we condition at the end of practice I am racing to come in first every day. It’s my dream to play sports in college, when I was little I never thought about college I played so hard mainly because I loved the game so much.

~~One of my main goals at the collegiate level is to get my degree in Business. For the past few years I have dreamed of owning my own business or managing a well-known company. Meanwhile my biggest dream has always been to win a national championship. I believe one thing that makes me a good fit for any team is my great leadership on and off the court. I can honestly say an attribute that separates me from all other recruits is my high character and composure. I’ve heard from a lot of people that they can never tell that I’m having a bad game or if I’m upset or even if I am nervous because my body language stays the same and nothing changes about the style of my game. Another thing that makes me different from other recruits is my athleticism and my speed and being able to change speeds. Also my long wingspan and big hands helps me score some shots other players may not be able to make. They also play a big role in my defensive part of my game. Which is my favorite of basketball, guarding and locking down the other team’s best player is more fun to me than scoring 30 points. Also my strongest part of my game is getting to the rim, which I developed from one of my favorite players Allen Iverson. My other strong point is being able to pull-up and knock down that 15-foot shot, which I developed from my other favorite player Russell Westbrook. One thing I’ve been having to do since my freshman year that makes me a good player is being able to run a team and control the tempo of the game. As much as I believe in hard work on the court I believe in the same thing in the classroom. For about the past 3 years I’ve been averaging A’s and B’s in all my classes. Recently, I was named to the Latin Honor Society for keeping my grade at an ‘A’ average all. I’ve always heard that Latin is the hardest foreign language to learn.