skip navigation

Loyola (Md.) gets a Champion in Friends' Central guard

07/28/2015, 7:30pm EDT
By Josh Verlin

Friends' Central (Pa.) guard Chuck Champion (above) is Loyola's first commitment for 2016. (Photo: Tom Reifsnyder)

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
--

It was one year ago, while he prepared for his junior year at Friends' Central (Pa.), that Chuck Champion first realized he had the potential to be a Division I player.

After making a name for himself as a valuable scorer off the bench for La Salle HS as a sophomore in 2013-14, the 6-foot-1 guard made the decision to transfer to the City Avenue private school, where he averaged just over 14 ppg as a junior before heading into the most crucial recruiting summer of his career.

And that strong play carried over, with Loyola (Md.) becoming the first school to offer him, on April 28. A day short of three months later, Champion rewarded head coach G.G. Smith and staff with their first commitment for 2016.

“I’m just very excited, I’m excited for Loyola," Champion told CoBL by phone on Tuesday evening. "I feel like I have a big relief off my shoulders and off my back."

Champion's commitment comes on the heels of a strong summer season with the Jersey Shore Warriors, his second summer with the area program that's known for churning out Patriot and Ivy League recruits. 

He's the second member of this year's oldest group of Warriors who will be in the Patriot League next fall; Parkland (Pa.) wing Kyle Stout committed to Lafayette earlier in the spring.

Smith, who was hired two years ago, has guided the Greyhounds to identical 11-19 marks in his first two seasons, which have also been the first two that the Baltimore school has played in the Patriot League. It's the first head coaching job for Smith, whose father Tubby Smith has coached at Kentucky, Minnesota and Texas Tech, among others.

“My relationship is great with coach Smith, we talk probably almost every day on the phone or over text message," Champion said. "I really like him and the rest of the coaching staff.”

Champion's only two official offers at the time of his commitment were Loyola and Central Connecticut State, who offered in July. But Friends' Central coach Ryan Tozer said a few other programs were waiting on a slightly improved SAT score before they would have offered Champion.

"Lafayette and Holy Cross wanted him bad," Tozer said. "They didn’t officially offer; if Chucky would have committed to them, they would have taken him and just waited until he got the 40 points or whatever."

Champion admitted that Loyola's being the first one to offer gave them an advantage.

“That definitely made an impression on me, that they took a chance,” he said. "It was just realizing what probably would be the best fit for me, where I could see myself playing, the location of the school and things like that.”

Though his recruitment wasn't as white-hot as some of the other 2016 prospects in the area, Champion has a very good shot at being a more-than-servicable guard in the Patriot League.

While he made his name as a very good outside shooter, making 38 3-pointers during his junior season despite missing six games of a 22-8 campaign, Champion is an underrated drive-and-kick guard who doesn't tend to force the action and rebounds well for his position.

“He’s very coachable, he actually lives across the street from our campus so he’s always in the gym, he’s always sneaking over to get in the gym," Tozer said. "I think the Jersey Shore was a great experience for him, got him a lot of exposure, and the fact that he’s been working his tail off since the high school season ended really shows the schools what he can do.”


Recruiting News:

HS Coverage:

Tag(s): Home  Old HS  Recruiting  Josh Verlin  Friends' League