The domino effect started August 19, 2024 when Newport boys’ basketball standout Taylen Kinney announced he was going to prep school with Overtime Elite in Atlanta.
Nearly a year later, two more Newport boys’ basketball players announced they are going the prep school route as James Turner and Griffin Starks recently made their decisions public.
Turner is headed to AZ Compass in Chandler, Arizona while Starks is going south to Southeastern Prep in Orlando, Florida. Both recently announced their decisions on Instagram and were confirmed by Wildcats coach Rod Snapp to LINK nky.
Turner is a rising senior who received offers from Georgia State, Duquesne, Rhode Island, Penn State, Charleston, IU Indy, Jackson State, Stony Brook and Radford, but has yet to make a commitment.
Starks is a rising junior who is seeing his recruitment start to take off. After receiving offers from Ohio and Penn State as a sophomore, he’s been offered by West Virginia, Ohio State, Florida State and Cincinnati over the past couple of months.
Kinney, a rising senior, has vaulted himself into the top 20 recruits nationally for the 2026 class. He’s been virtually offered to play Division I basketball at almost every power conference team in the country and recently made official visits to University of Louisville and Kentucky. He’ll also soon make visits to Texas and Indiana. He’s expected to return to OTE for his senior season.
Newport’s rise in 2022-23 that came with two straight 9th Region titles and an All “A” state championship in 2024 is now met with uncertainty. Three of the five expected starters from the 2023-24 team that won 24 straight games and made a second straight trip to Rupp Arena now has three starters departed with Kinney, Turner and Starks. The other two are currently playing college basketball, DeShaun Jackson at Mercyhurst University and Jabari Covington at Union Commonwealth University.
They were a buzzer-beater away last season from making a third straight region final appearance, losing to Lloyd Memorial on a last second shot in the Ninth Region semifinals. Four of their starting five from last season are now departed along with additional depth with Turner and Starks going prep, Yamil Rondon, DaShawn Anderson, Kyle Lee and Adonaje Lowe graduating.
Amontae Lowe and Irvan Nichols are the only potential returnees that saw significant playing time last season.