Rawle Alkins is quickly learning what a headache it can be having to pick both a prep school and college at the same time.
“I’m going to have to make two really big decisions,” Alkins said.
The former Christ the King star and Canarsie native is one of the most highly recruited boys’ basketball prospects in the country. Now the 6-foot-4 Alkins — the No. 15 ranked prospect in the country by the website Rivals — is getting phone calls from prep-school coaches as well as college ones after he announced he would not seek a fifth year of eligibility from the Catholic High School Athletic Association and return to Middle Village next season.
The Canarsie native’s phone is constantly vibrating with calls and texts.
“It’s crazy,” Alkins said. “As soon as I made that announcement, every single prep school you could imagine was calling my phone. It’s like double trouble now. I should have a phone for colleges and prep schools and a phone for me.”
Alkins admitted to not even checking his phone sometimes. Schools like St. John’s, Kentucky, Louisville, or Indiana could be calling five minutes apart. Prep schools including Oak Hill, Montverde, Huntington Prep, and Brewster Academy have already reportedly reached out to him.
He isn’t sure when he will choose where he will play his senior season, but he expects to narrow his college list down to five in the spring and pick a school shortly after that in the late spring.
Alkins is in no rush to pick a college, understanding the decision has a long term impact on his athletic career and his overall future.
“I just don’t want to hurry up and commit and get these colleges off my back,” Alkins said. “At the end of the day, it is the biggest decision of my life.”
The choice hasn’t taken his focus away from basketball. Alkins, who recently picked up an offer from North Carolina, had all three St. John’s coaches — including headman Chris Mullin — watching him at the Adidas Uprising All-American Camp last week.
Alkins and his Rens travel team won the Adidas Uprising Gauntlet championship in early July. He looked good on the opening day of Adidas Uprising camp on July 15 at LIU Post. He hit three-pointers with ease, showed off a step-back jumper, and had a thunderous one-handed slam in the lane early in the contest.
Alkins dropped 24 points and dished out eight assists in the event’s all-star game at Rucker Park the next night.
“I’m always in the gym working out, Alkins said. “Colleges they are always going to be there.”
But he knows he has to deal with his short-term future before he can start thinking long term.
“Before I attend college and prepare to take my visits, I have to find a prep school,” Alkins said.
