The Prospect Report: June 7th Camps are Full Speed and we are into June 15th Week

The Prospect Report

June 7th

What’s Going On In Recruiting as We Head to June 15th Week

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Dylan Kupiec - Wave MB- Truly was someone we heard quite a bit about during the season, but never knew her true range. She didn’t have a profile and we didn’t get updates and again that is the chink in our armor and the of the West Coast clubs I believe and I have advocated for WAVE VB as much as ANY club in the country, but not allowing prospects to talk or share where they are camping I simply don’t see how that HELPS other than make colleges come directly to the clubs for info and that ONLY HELPS the CLUBS.

Dylan camped at Auburn today, and the Tigers had a solid talent lineup for the 3rd consecutive summer despite staff turnover. Will it lead to a higher PPV in their signing class? Kupiec would be big for Auburn no doubt.

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Elle Hatlevig, the top-ranked prospect in the state of Iowa, camped at ISU today, and that would be a great sign for the Cyclone Staff to keep her home, not only talent-wise, but from a PR standpoint, with so much talent in that 2-hour radius for ISU to compete with for any Midwest talent.

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Brooke Codey - Kentucky 2028 prospect has had a busy week as she took in some home cooking with WKU and UK camps early in the week, but has been WAYYY out West since camping at USC and Cal this weekend. The indoor star is also a decorated beach star, which is a rare combo for a Kentucky athlete, but may play into her college decision???

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Macie Chase - Houston Jrs. Setter - Was able to chat with one of our class favorites a bit this weekend and catch up on the Texas Setters' plans going forward. She is camping at Northwestern, Boston College, and Notre Dame this week. Schools are all known for their high academic standards as well as their athletics. Also, BC and Northwestern both had breakout classes in 2027, and we have spoken at length about how we feel about the direction of the NW program. BC is a bit more wait-and-see, but they pony up like they did last year and show they want to compete with the next level up in the ACC, and that program could be competitive in a short time. Chase said there is another program really trying to get her to camp in July, but she is seeing how this week goes first.

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Kennedy Hummert checked in, and that’s the first we have heard from any of the new club 3DGE standout 2028s. The talented libero is headed to South Carolina later this week for camp and will compete at Gamecock camp, and you know what a class they had last year. Hummert is talented enough to step in year one and be a serve receive specialist at many P4 programs and libero at some.

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Water or Mirage???

Was Forza 1 star OH Janiah Burrage letting other schools down easy this weekend with her Pitt Panther references on her Instagram stories, or was she playing some kind of social media evil trick on the Panther Nation only to break their hearts next week? Burrage posted references to the Pitt program on her story on back-to-back days just before attending the Panthers' first Select Camp today. Now it could merely be a coincidence, but it did get the attention of several others around the VB world who figured they would text me to let me know of the two posts.

Rumors also had it that Burrage looked “out of this world athletic” at the camp today, but why are you telling VBAdrenaline that? We were the ones that gave her the PPV bump back in mid-March to move her slightly ahead of other bigger names based on her 10’8” approach touch and her dominating athletic performance at the Vegas Tourney. We may or may not have stood next to Pitt, Texas A&M, and Louisville coaches for a couple of those matches that weekend. Not surprisingly, those are three of the top favorites for Burrage heading down the stretch. Again, Ogbogu really does seem like Texas A+M’s choice, and Louisville is deep for this year, plus they have always been a program that has such a great reputation with transfers who see how good things are there after they make a mistake with their HS decision and then head to Louisville to finish college on a positive note.

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Leilani Lamar - Outside A5 - Another who will be camping away during Top 5 Camp Week and will be making the big tour with all the other cool kids (USA Volleyball crew) and doing everything together. Lamar seems to be the most well-rounded of the group and consistent now. What is her long-term potential upside compared to the others? Some programs want that gamble, and other programs want that guarantee. I still go back to Lamar’s performance all weekend at Dream Team Camp last July, and that has locked her up as class #1 for me. Loved her consistency and even-keel attitude in that environment. I still think Nebraska for her, but merely a guess.

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Libero Nation:

I’ve purposely stayed away from the ‘bros most of the year because I think there is a pack that is so close together, and I think there are so many little things that separate them. Also, with the 5 for 5, I do believe it will affect this crew more than anyone. Programs going and bringing in a veteran for a year and then asking a 2028 to play for free and earn a spot, or it looks like there could be $ right now, so an offer is made now and then a 5th year bro becomes available later to make a team's better, and a spot is pulled down the line, etc. So I do think so much movement can take place with this position, and it truly stinks for this class and position group, but it’s a business, and we will see what happens. For now, I’ll talk about some of the bros I’ve been following closer than most.

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Cala Haffner - Pineapple High Performance - When athletes who used to talk to me stop, I know there is serious stuff going on, and I get pumped up.

Bring in Battle of the Bitter Rivals Pt. 1 I know everyone is after Haffner, but I was told a recruiting phrase 5 years ago, and it served me well even though it ticks people off. No one says no to TEXAS or Nebraska, and I get that Nebraska just got 2 liberos, but Haffner is the GOAT prospect. We made a new award sticker for her. So you go for her because you are the GOAT and she is the GOAT, and I just want to be a fly (on the wall during the Zooms).

Now, is Wisconsin in this mix, YES, and do they have a shot, YES.

Is Texas A+M in the mix, I’m sure, and Morrison doesn’t lose many things this year, and if he wins, I'll hear about it, though I haven’t heard from him nearly as much since December as I used to, yes, I will. But, the GREATEST RIVALRY IN VB is Texas vs. Nebraska, and Haffner is the Greatest Libero prospect ever. I’ll tell you where she’s going on the June 14th show.

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Averi Bridges - VCN - I’m not a “fate” guy, but I do feel like the stars were aligning here. Follow me. Skinner tells me I need to go talk to his buddy Sheffield. I want to watch one last match of Ireland Reels before heading to the airport.  Sheffield and I both want to watch Ireland Real, that’s how we meet and talk about Big Ten rivalries. Averi Bridges has 47 digs, and Kelly Sheffield punches me 4x because a few of them were that amazing. I’m ok with this because that’s how football coaches watch awesome plays together. Sheffield and I haven’t talked for two years, it all comes full circle, and Wisconsin lands Averi Bridges as their next libero!?! Either that or she goes to Creighton, which she really, really likes a lot.

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Harper Broyles - Alliance VB - I think she is a Michigan, Kansas, SMU camper, but Harper has to go to Kansas, I think. This has been a match since last summer, I think she loved this staff, and KU has a nice run of legit Liberos. She is a team player, and she has grown up pushing 5’10” and strong. Liked her since I interviewed her at NTDP. This would just be Ullmer taking his culture kid, not #1, and fighting that fight, but his really good athlete and making her into a top 5-7 bro in America.

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Chloe Ritchie - Munciana - When I need the seal of approval, I still call the Libero Whisperer, and when she doesn’t hesitate and says “Chloe Ritchie of Muncie,” then I just write her down as a 2x All-Conference and probably an All-American. Don’t you worry, Card Nation, that Brick Wall is back for some time now. They had their one year of growing pains last year, but they are going to have about a 6-year run of LEGIT LIBERO/DS, and Ritchie could be the next to head to Louisville; she kind of fits that type.

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Bethany Benjamin - A5 - Talk about underrated Benjamin is that probably because she has six All-Americans in front of her that get much press and should! Benjamin is athletic, but fundamentally solid, and schools have noticed. She has a week coming up. My guess is around the Georgia and SEC country, but there are Top 10 programs looking into the A5 libero. Stay tuned, we are interviewing her this week we will see what we can find out.

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Izzie Penrose - AZ Storm - Now we sent out open invitations to all of our player profile athletes to come and talk during the week of June 15th, and to be honest, I’m shocked Izzie wasn’t one of the first to take us up on that! She was a frequent flyer mileage camper last summer, and she definitely got to look at several schools. Her interest is just as open to colleges with many top programs, looking at the AZ Storm libero and the solid career that Penrose has put together with her consistent and fundamental play. Penrose truly does all of the little things that coaches talk about and tries not to have to make flashy plays when they aren’t necessary. This is difficult because I know there is interest on both coasts and every P4 conference for Izzie, and like always, she is in control of the ball

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A couple of last notes for tonight:

Watch for our posts about player and coach LIVE Interviews this week.

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They will alternate between our social media (Instagram/YouTube) and post on our website. We are being respectful of the athletes’ and coaches' crazy schedules, so I am “on-call” for them this week.

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June 14th LIVE SHOW is from 7-10 PM EST on our YouTube and social media channels.

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June 15th WAR ROOM CAM Live Look-Ins are back (Vandy, Pitt, Texas, Clemson scheduled so far), should be fun

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More to come, tell a friend to subscribe and support our coverage.