Week of Recruits, Day 1: Tracy Abrams

Tracy Abrams was the first member of the 2011 recruiting class to sign with Illinois.

As we mentioned in Friday’s post, today marks the first day of the Week of Recruits series, where we take a look at each of the seven new members of the Illinois basketball team. Today, we start with incoming point guard Tracy Abrams from Mount Carmel, Illinois.

Player Profile

Name: Tracy Abrams

Position: Point Guard

Height: 6′-1″

Weight: 175 lbs

High School: Mount Carmel High School, Mount Carmel, IL

Player Position Rank: ESPN: 18 Rivals: 13 Scout: 13

Player Overall Rank: ESPN: 85 Rivals: 58 Scout: 60

Other Schools of Interest: Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio State, Tennessee, UCLA

Strengths: What impresses scouts the most about Abrams is his ability to create his own shot. Abrams is strong for his size and a very tough player who is not afraid to dive after a ball or take a charge. He possesses strong ball handling ability and is skilled at drawing fouls while attacking the basket. He is a confident shooter with a solid jump shot and he can attack the rim as well.

Areas for Improvement: The one area for improvement for Abrams is his speed. He lacks the quickness of a John Wall or Derrick Rose. Scouts have also noted that he is still learning the role of point guard, but he is making great progress and should be ready to make the leap to the college level.

Highlights:

Tracy Abrams Highlights

ESPN Highlight

Early Thoughts: Abrams is an exciting player to watch and will likely have significant playing time right away. He will be competing with junior Brandon Paul and senior transfer Sam Maniscalco for the starting spot, and while it would appear that the other two have a slight edge, a strong fall practice season and solid minutes off the bench could let him start a few games. The most important thing that Abrams brings is his work ethic, which his high school coaches rave about. We are all excited to see just how big of an impact Abrams can have as a freshman.