Sunrise Christian Academy guard will make recruiting visits to Kansas, Kansas State
Layden Blocker, a 6-foot-2, 172-pound junior point guard from Sunrise Christian Academy in Bel Aire, Kansas, has set up official men’s basketball recruiting trips to both Kansas and Kansas State, according to various recruiting services.
Blocker, the No. 28-ranked prospect in the recruiting Class of 2023 according to ESPN.com, No. 36 according to 247sports.com and No. 47 according to Rivals.com, is set to visit Kansas State on May 6-8 and Kansas on June 10-12. He also will visit Maryland on May 13-15 and Arkansas on June 6-8, according to 247sports.com. Others in the mix include Creighton, Memphis, Baylor, Gonzaga, Oklahoma State, Auburn, Oregon and Ohio State.
He’s already made a pair of unofficial visits to Arkansas.
Blocker, who is from Little Rock, Arkansas, averaged 9.0 points (on 53% shooting), 3.3 assists, 3.8 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game this past season for Sunrise Christian Academy. He hit 42.6% of his threes. Sunrise Christian fell to Prolific Prep, 59-56, in a Geico Nationals quarterfinal game on March 31 in Fort Myers, Florida.
Blocker — he is a member of the Brad Beal 17 and under AAU team — averaged 20.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists as a sophomore at Little Rock Christian High School. He was offered a scholarship by KU on June 16, 2021.
“Layden has developed most as a play maker and in his pace,” Sunrise Christian coach Luke Barnwell told Zagsblog.com. “He has elite speed and he is learning to use that in bursts in the halfcourt to create advantages for our team. He is just scratching the surface though and I look forward to continuing his growth and development,” Barnwell added.
Blocker, according to Rob Cassidy of Rivals.com, “is an explosive prospect with a knack for getting to the rack and finishing through contact.”
KU also is recruiting Scotty Middleton, a teammate of Blocker at Sunrise Christian Academy. Middleton, a 6-7, 173-pound junior small forward, has narrowed his list of schools to Kansas, Texas A&M, UConn, Seton Hall and Ohio State. Middleton is ranked No. 19 in the Class of 2023 by ESPN.com, No. 23 by On3.com, No. 42 by 247sports.com and No. 97 by Rivals.com.
Middleton, according to 247sports.com, has taken official visits to Kansas State and Ohio State and visited KU unofficially for the KU-Kentucky game last January. Originally from Miami, Middleton at one time also had K-State, Xavier, DePaul, Penn State, Oklahoma State, Arizona State and Texas Tech on his list.
Sunrise Christian Academy senior guard Gradey Dick is a member of KU’s recruiting Class of 2022. KU freshman forward Zach Clemence also attended Sunrise Christian.
KU is recruiting Bowen
KU continues to recruit Taylor Bowen, a 6-9, 190-pound junior small forward from Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire.
Bowen, who is ranked No. 32 in the recruiting Class of 2023 according to Rivals.com and No. 50 by ESPN.com, is considering KU, Providence, Duke, Kentucky, Florida State, LSU, Tennessee, UConn, Virginia Tech and others, according to Rivals.com.
He was born in Egypt, then moved to Vermont.
“Coach (Norm) Roberts has shown me a lot of love and texts me a lot. He’s been coming out here a lot and he came to Brewster during the season, too. That means a lot, obviously, because it’s all about relationships. Them coming out to see me meant a lot,” Bowen said of KU coaches to Rivals.com.
At Brewster, he is a teammate of Matas Buzelis, who also has KU on his list of prospective schools. Buzelis, a 6-10, 180-pound junior small forward originally from Willowbrook, Illinois, is ranked No. 6 in the Class of 2023 by Rivals.com. He’s also considering Duke, Kentucky, Arizona, UNC, Illinois, Wake Forest, Michigan State, Syracuse and others.
This story was originally published April 26, 2022 at 10:01 AM.
