WKU Hilltoppers: Tops Tab Tons of Talent On Early Signing Day
A plethora of new faces officially became Hilltoppers on Wednesday as the WKU men’s and women’s basketball team, softball team, volleyball…
A plethora of new faces officially became Hilltoppers on Wednesday as the WKU men’s and women’s basketball team, softball team, volleyball team and baseball team all got early signees to commit to the Tops.
Let’s break down who will be raising the red and white above the rest come next season.
Men’s Basketball
Jeremiah Gambrell, 6'1" Guard | Madison, Texas
Gambrell is one of the most recent verbal commitments to the Tops and he made the commitment official on Wednesday. The former Baylor commit comes to the Tops after decommitting from the Bears on October 6.
Gambrell seems to be a natural scorer (which seems to be a trend with some of Stansbury’s guys), having posted averages of 15, 20 and 20 points in his first three years of high school ball.
Trevelin Queen, 6'6" Guard | New Mexico Millitary Institute
A two-star prospect out of high school, the Maryland product has started his final JUCO year strong, averaging 23.3 points and 4.5 rebounds per game in four games.
Women’s Basketball
Akira Levy, 5'8" Guard | Cookeville, Tennessee
The first of three new Lady Toppers, Levy is a Top 20 prospect according to ESPN’s Hoopgurlz rankings who averaged 21.5 points, 3.9 rebounds and 6.3 assists per game in her junior season at Upperman High School.
Elysa Wesolek, 6'1" Forward | Charelston, S.C.
Another top member of the Hoopgurlz class, if Wesolek’s high school numbers are able to translate, she’ll be a threat from the floor (where she averaged 13.1 points per game and shot 58% a season ago) and in the paint (where she averaged 8.4 rebounds per contest as a junior).
Kallie Searcy, 6'3" Center | Brentwood, Tennessee
Searcy has lost just 12 games in two seasons at Brentwood Academy, and is averaged 4.8 points and 4.2 rebounds her junior year.
Softball
Jordan Ridge, R/R Utility | Louisville, Kentucky
The Lady Tops snagged a member of softball power Assumption, who is a two-time All-Louisville Metro Team member as well as an All-Region honoree.
Sydne Solomon, R/R, C/3B | Lewisburg, Tennessee
Solomon knows how to hit the ball — she hit .404 with seven home runs her sophomore year after posting a .448 avearge with seven home runs in her freshman campaign. She was forced to miss last season with an injury.
Kennedy Sullivan, R/R, P/OF | Georgetown, Kentucky
The next Miranda Kramer? Sullivan posted a 0.76 ERA in 129 IP lsat year, punching out 219 opposing hitters. The year before that, her ERA was a miniscule 0.92 (across 174 IP) and struck out 298 batters as well. She can get it done in the batters box as well, having hit .373 with 30 RBI and .364 with 38 RBI in each of the last two seasons.
Taylor Davis, L/R OF | Huntsville, Alabama
My favorite member of this class (us lefties have to stay together), Davis will look to solidify herself in the Lady Tops’ outfield. She has a ton of high school accolades, including All-Tournament selections in the Alabama playoffs and All-State Team (one First Team and two Second Team) selections. Not only does she get on base — bringing a .465 career batting average to the Hill with her, but also speed, having stolen 97 bases.
Macy Murphy, R/R 1B | Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Murphy comes to the Hill by-way of Murfreesboro (suck it, MT), and might be the most exciting all-around bat in the class. Last year, she posted a .329 average with a home run, a tribal, six doubles, 18 RBI, 17 runs scored and also drew 10 walks. She also added six stolen bases to her pedigree.
Baseball
Hunter Evans, R/R, C/3B | Bowling Green, Kentucky
The South Warren product will stay in BG to play college ball, where he’ll have the opportunity to get some major playing time early with all four catchers on the current roster being upper classmen (though, it remains to be seen if he’ll actually catch or if he’ll become a full-time infielder with the Tops).
Volleyball
Payton Frederick, Libero | Louisville, Kentucky
Not only does Travis Hudson continue to strong pipeline from the Louisville and Indiana (as we’ll see in a bit) but he also is continuing to build a strong corps of defensive specialists that Frederick will slip into. She’s a two-time state champion with Assumption and is one of two Under Armour All-Americans to be tabbed by Hudson.
Katie Isenbarger, Middle Hitter | Zionsville, Indiana
With Maggie Singleton leaving after this year and Rachel Anderson and Amara Listenbee having one year left on the Hill, it’ll be a middle court of Isenbarger and Kayland Jackson for the foreseeable future. Isenbarger is a member of Zionsville High Schools 1,000 kill club and is the second UA All-American in the class.
Lauren Matthews, Middle Hitter | Indianapolis, Indiana
The middle court continues to get younger (but will have a strong core for 3–4 years) with so much turnover next year, and not only can end the point (having logged 1,121 kills in her high school career) but also can get it done defensively with 541 blocks (a Lawrence North H.S. record). The future, as always is the case, is bright for the Lady Toppers.
We’ll continue to update this list with more info and new signees as they come in. (I could have sworn the Tops had at least one more baseball signee and do you have any idea how hard it is to find high school softball stats?)
Let us be the second (behind WKU athletics, directly) to officially welcome them to the Tops’ family. We can’t wait to see what you’ll bring to the Hill.