Faces of the 2028 Top 100: The Stories Not The Rankings

Faces of the 2028 Top 100: The Stories Not the Rankings that we remember

Chapter 2

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Mallory Mizell: South Carolina, STARS Volleyball, "Proving them wrong one award at a time"

I truly am not vain enough or silly enough to believe that creating a Player Profile on our small website helps set any athlete on the "road to getting noticed by coaches".  I am always honored when an athlete says we do or believes that, but I have to to correct them and tell them we may help a few schools add them on social media, but it' THEIR GAME that keeps the coaches interested, sure as heck isn't our website that does that, but Mallory Mizell an undersized OH from STARS VB in South Carolina swears that when she decided to take a chance and make a Player Profile on our website she was followed by several new colleges and at her next tournament there were colleges watching at her court and she played her best tourney ever (hey I'm not going to stop her from telling that story ever I guess), but seriously Mizell did just that and club season of 2025 she was like a magnet drawing more and more attention every single tourney and with it came more honors and accolades and PRODUCTION.  Before you knew it she was on watch lists and camp invites were flooding in.  She handled last summer with the same smile and positive energy she had handled everything and yet...."she is too small" tag stuck with her.  So Mallory headed into her HS season in South Carolina and absolutely dominated from start to finish, again picking up honors and awards left and right.  She is a 3x AAU All-American and led her club team to a Natty last club season.  She's been to UA NEXT and has been HS All-American 3rd team.  She has one and been the major contributor on every team she has played on.  Bottom line Mizell produces at ALL LEVELS.

She learned and took what college coaches talked with her about last summer at select camps and has spent hours refining her game to be able to be an P4 OH under the 6'0" mark.  But, she is that athlete that deserves a shot at the next level because of her attitude and her work ethic.  She's one of those athletes that I hate being honest with about "The Process" because it isn't fair to them.  Athletes like Mizell deserve to be ACC All-Americans much more than, well than others.  So there will be a program for her and a spot for her and it will be interesting because the "5 for 5 rule" could absolutely impact someone like Mallory, but she has already proven people wrong award by award and her productivity is through the roof.  She will attack those challenges with a smile, gratitude and her best just like she has everything up till now.

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Deviryn McCarty: Iowa, Kairos Volleyball, "Having to Earn It TWICE"

When you are from a rural state and play for a smaller club people don't truly understand that you have to really work that much harder and honestly be that much better than athletes from the bigger clubs to get the same recognition.  Then when you are a libero almost 2x that effort because you are going against double the competition.  I'm not sure what will ever become of Deviryn McCarty of Kairos Volleyball, but how I learned about her is a story I'll truly never forget.  

I've told the story of meeting her parents and a group of Kairos parents the night before TC NIT two years ago and saying I would stop by to watch a match of their 15s match the next PM.  Spotting McCarty and right away and starting to tell everyone that I knew about this 2028 bro from Kairos, etc. etc., but getting noticed and standing out and continuing to play at that high of level all season to keep the interest of the high level programs that were showing serious interest in McCarty is one thing.  Then she had to go to round one of Select Camps and handle her business in front of them there.  She did that very well by all reports last June/July.  So much so that we had moved her inside the Top 10 Liberos in this deep class.

Then as we had mentioned right at the end of summer an ACL injury sidelines the '28 libero for her entire HS season and what looked like possibly her entire 16s club season.  So right away she is scratched from some schools watch list, poof gone.  The mental grind an anxiety of not knowing if schools will wait or still be showing interest when you are back or when will you be back?  How good will you be when you are back and will coaches understand you aren't 100% right away and will they even care?  All of this on a 15/16 year old that was living her dream just a few months before.

Like I said when you are from rural Iowa proving yourself one time is hard enough, but having to come back from an ACL injury and prove to colleges that you are still the right pick for them over 30 other liberos they could choose who haven't been injured, that might be even harder.  But, when I watched Dev that very first time in KC obviously she was a good bro with her technique, etc., but the match I watched there was about a 45 second period where she got this nasty look a little bit and was a little bit nasty on the court, like she might want to fight someone rather than lose that match.  I remember a coaching friend of mine who has been in few final fours lately tell me "you know we don't want angels at libero all the time, they have to sit back there all alone and return some of the gnarliest serves in the world they need a little bit of dawg in them."  Dev has that and she has shown that twice now simply getting noticed and then coming back to get a shot at getting recruited.  That's exactly why I'd take her over the 30 other liberos she's up against.

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Molly Monday: Florida, Tribe Volleyball, "The Rookie"

Opening weekend for tourneys WAYYYYY back in January and I know we are going to have some new names to take down and evaluate.  You know how someone is really good?  When 3 different people call or text you the same day with the exact same name.  "Hey you gotta watch this Setter for Tribe, Molly Monday", "Hey Tribe has this new setter you have to watch she's legit". "Hey Tribe 16s new setter really really good"

So when that happens we hit the film room and comments verified Molly Monday is very, very good and was not on your list before.  So then we try and find out more about her, which with Molly was easy we had an interview set up like 3 days later and she was awesome to talk with.  Molly was truly "A rookie" to all of THIS and was not used to any attention or the recruiting buzz or any of it, so it was fun talking with about things I'm sure she is bored to death with by now:). This was year one with Tribe and it was all a shock to her system, but being an effective setter was not!  She quickly caught the eye of some major programs and coaches flocked to the Tribe gym to start watching practices.  "It's nerve wracking to see coaches from big schools just show up at our practices and watch me.  I have never had anything like that before that is for sure." Monday told me when we talked in February.

Right away that was the question from schools was going to be "has she played enough big time volleyball compared to some of the other top setters", but that is completely a non-factor now and Molly is a top 5 setter in the class.  "There are still things that she does that are immature as far as a court IQ standpoint" said a top 10 coach following NTDP a couple of weeks ago "but that is also why so many programs are fired up about her.  Her ceiling is huge, that talented with really very little open level experience.  Sky is limit technique wise."

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Megan Hodges: California, TStreet Volleyball, "The Class Riddle"

Megan Hodges I'm not sure if I should write a bunch of questions or statements about possibly the most physically gifted athlete I've seen in a volleyball uniform in the six years I've done this.  I just don't anything about her, but feel like I have a decent understanding of exactly who she is, lol.  Every other recruiting class I'm usually able to whip through about the top 7-10 players before I get hung up on where one is committing.  I can't get past 2 and Hodges and even know what position she is playing.

Now, I will say that to me the simple fact that people are debating you as a MB or OPP and one of the top players at both positions should be confidence enough that you are that GOOD!  I say just sign her and let her figure it out when she gets to campus.  Have her keep working at both, with extra, extra work on the pin.

What I do know is that when I watched her play last season I did see one of the most intense game faces I maybe have ever seen.  She is locked in and has to win so you better put her in the correct locker room to do so.  Hodges is reserved unless she is around her peers and good for her, she can be.  I always say that's too bad because I think she has a great personalilty from what I have been told and she is going to be one of the nation's best for some time now I wish the country would get to know her a bit because I think she would be great in interviews.

She has a hammer and a half when she swings like she literally wants to hurt the ball and a work ethic you don't have to question.  She is one of those athletes that I feel is just ready for college already.  She is ready to be coached hard and pushed another gear and compete at a higher level, like that is what really makes her tick.

Enjoy her for what she is an amazing volleyball player with skills I don't know if the sport has truly seen before at this level.  The riddle will be solved here shortly and let's enjoy it's talents as volleyball fans, she's special