Golden Girls: Early Gold Level Prospects for '28 Player Profiles to Track

With Prep underway, sometimes volleyball recruiting can take a backseat to other sports.  "Not so fast, my friends" (our tribute to Coach Corso on his final College Gameday),  though it is more rare for Freshmen to get reps on Varsity squads and make an impact, there are plenty that will do it and improve recruiting stock during the Fall.  Regardless, college coaches know who they want to follow to start the process of the 2028s, and that is what we are doing as well, starting our process.  So much change happens between the Freshman and Sophomore years (and actually the Sophomore and Junior years) that it is great to get early evals on athletes when they are young ,but this is the Fall when they will truly start showing glimpses of what they are going to do at the next level.  So we admittedly put our Class lists together MUCH slower than other sites, as we do try to wait to see development a bit longer than others, because it is tough to rank or evaluate a 12s or 13s super high and then they plateau, and you have to drop them down later because you were way off.

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That being said, here is the early, small list of Player Profiles we have followed that evaluate at the Gold Level for the Class of 2028.  We do predict that this class should end with somewhere between 15-17 in total once all athletes are seen and movement shakes out, but this is our initial lists based on Player Profiles we have taken time to really focus on.

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Tatum Kelly - Setter - 1st Alliance/Nequa Valley High- Illinois

If you have followed us much, you know how much we like Kelly as a person and a prospect.  Grinder and a student of the game.  Has been a fan of our content since an early age, and we have had a chance to talk with her several times and really get to know her well.  Have enjoyed her mental maturity and how she is thinking the game and her growth that way, especially the past year.  She went to some very impressive Select Camps and will be in that mix of big schools as they are all hunting for a setter next year.

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Amari Frazier - Middle - AZ Storm/Xavier High - Arizona

We were able to witness Frazier at nationals and then shortly after during the Dream Team Camp.  It was awesome to see her in both environments because she truly had to work in Lincoln as she was surrounded by so much talent.  That is where her A+ attitude and coachability shone.  We loved the way she adjusted and was completely open to try new techniques and competed vs. anyone and jumped in vs. anyone at any position.  Frazier has some tweener options in her game, depending on how she develops, but moves very well on the court, and her quickness is a strength; she is smooth in her routes.  A top program is going to find a use for a coachable, athletic front-row player who can move around, that is for certain.

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Alex Knox - Setter - Peters Township High - Pennsylvania

Physical with a super soft touch, Knox has a great rapport with her attackers.  She just fits in with any group.  I love her demeanor when she walks into a new gym, very unassuming and quiet, but always connects with her weapons.  Knox is another volleyball sponge. She lives the game and is soaking up knowledge wherever she goes.  On the court, she reads quickly, and again her accuracy is among the best in the class.

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Madlen Gloessner - Middle - NORCO/Lakewood High - Colorado

This is one that could be the next to move Diamond soon.  She was VERY GOOD at Dream Team and did many other things well away from the net.  She needs to work on a few of the physical skills to move to elite, but Gloessner is going to get all of the big looks, and she has the attitude and personality to be that primetime athlete.  She is moving to a larger open division club this season, so she will get more week-to-week exposure, but she has already earned the recognition to be a top prospect.  Watch her as she pushes to potentially be one of the top middles in the class.

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Josalyn Samuels - Setter - Kairos/Harrisburg High - South Dakota

Samuels enters her Sophomore season already with 3 State Titles and is the best player in the state.  Here, the real challenge will be as her prep team heads to Vegas in a couple of weeks to play in the Durango Tourney for the first time ever.  Samuels will be the best setter in the tourney. It will be interesting to see how that team responds in that environment, with others not expecting much from them.  In the past, this is when Samuels has been her best at getting a bit more locked in and intense on the court, so it will just be fun to see her take on some of these big HS teams in Vegas.  She had an impressive camp summer like many of the setters in the class.  She seems so at ease now attending big gym events.  Her height will be a plus that she will have over everyone in the class, and she uses that.  She is like Kelly and Knox, a definite student of the game and sees the court so very well.  She has been at or near the top of this class for a while and is going to have so many great options come June.  Strength training, explosion, and continuing to work on the little things of being the best floor general she can be are goal #1 for Samuels, who has done a lot of winning in her career, which coaches always like.