Memphis Roar

Image Courtesy Mark Skinner/Special to The Commercial Appeal

With all of the buzz surrounding Memphis’ 2009 basketball recruiting class, MemphisRoar decided to catch up with a few of the guys who signed in the early signing period. One of the main guys who is expected to come in and give the Tigers a much needed boost of athleticism, rebounding and post-defense is Will Coleman.

To give a little background, Coleman went to Glenwood High School in Georgia. Standing at 6′8 and weighing approximately 215lbs, he only began playing organized basketball his junior year of high school and did not play AAU basketball. As a result, he did not get a lot of exposure coming out of school. After initially committing to play at Arkansas-Little Rock, Coleman decided to head to Miami-Dade Community College.

After two very productive and successful seasons at Miami-Dade, Coleman has put on considerable weight. Not only that, but Coleman boasts a freakish 40″+ vertical leap. During his visit, on-lookers got to witness Coleman go up for a dunk only to have to duck his head backwards and to the side in order to avoid catching his chin on the rim. They also got to see Coleman grab the top righthand corner of the backboard.

On his sophomore season at Miami-Dade, Coleman said, “I really focused on defense and blocking shots. I bring energy, blocked shots, dunks and whatever. Next season, whatever Calipari needs he can have it.”

Like Tigers fans, Coleman is having a hard time looking past this season. “I’ll definitely be tuned in to the tournament. I think Memphis will do really well from watching them play in their non-conference schedule. They played really well against Gonzaga and the other big names,” Coleman said. When we asked when he was headed to Memphis for next season, he said he was uncertain at this point.

Always looking to get better, Coleman said, “I’m a big who runs the floor and can outrun a lot of bigs. I’m faster than a lot of them because I played football and ran track. I’m still able to do that. I will say that I’m working on getting my post defense a little better.”

Coleman joins Nolan Dennis, Darnell Dodson, Xavier Henry and Demarcus Cousins in next years recruiting class. Arguably one of the best classes in history, Coleman agrees and is very excited about the possibilities.

“I think it’s gonna be a really good group of guys with what we will already have and hopefully John Wall, too,” explained Coleman. ”I want to try to average a double-double. It’s a big goal but I think it can be done. ”

After his official visit this past fall, Coleman raved about the environment around the Memphis program. Asking him to expand upon that when we spoke with him, Will explained, “Just the love. When you’re a Tiger, it seems like things are great. When I went up there for my visit it was crazy. The fans. Everything. I loved it.”

When we asked him to dish some dirt on fellow-Tiger and teammate at Miami-Dade Darnell Dodson, Will said, “He tends to be pretty lazy on the court at times. He can coast and he can still have a double double. Then, he played in a tournament in Marianna and some of the Memphis staff was there. He had like 36pts and 15 rebounds. He just needs that extra attention to get him going.”

Closing out the interview, MemphisRoar asked Will if he wanted to say anything to our readers and to Memphis fans. His response?

“I hope you’re ready! The front and back courts are gonna be ridiculous. Anything is possible.”