Blue Chip Bonanza

The recruiting stock of local prep basketball stars Jodan Price and Kellen McCormick is on the rise.

Price, Birmingham Detroit Country Day's lanky 6-foot-7 senior-to-be, has gotten four Division 1 scholarship offers in the last week. First, Eastern Michigan threw its hat into the ring, followed quickly by Lamar and Central Michigan on the same day a few days later. On Tuesday, St. Joseph's from down in Philly stepped up to the plate and put an offer on the table. There will be more to come for certain.

McCormick, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep's 6-foot-8 inside-outside double-threat, has been offered D1 scholarships recently from Oakland University, Toledo, Miami (OH) and Western Michigan. Like with Price, the floodgates on the Fighting Irish standout's recruiting rush are just busting open.

Last season, Price was an integral piece on Country Day's nationally-ranked hoops squad that advanced into the Class B final four after transferring from a high school in Indianapolis where he played his first two years of varsity ball. He averaged 12.5 points, 7 rebounds and two blocks per game, shooting 80 percent from the free throw line and close to 45 percent from beyond the 3-point line. This guy is a like a local prep version of Tayshaun Prince….long, lethal and athletic!!!

Next winter will be McCormick's fourth year starting on the Fighting Irish's varsity team, in which time he has established himself as one of the most accurate shooters in the county. He can go 'Rip Hamilton' and stroke it from 15 with silky-smoothness or he can bomb away from downtown with ruthless efficiency alas The Germanator himself, Dirk Nowitzki, a player whose game I think is comparable to McCormick's on the local prep level. This past March, McCormick led NDP into the Sweet 16 before falling to Price's Yellowjackets.

In three years, he has already collected three district championships and next season he and the Fighting Irish hope to add their first Catholic League title in over a dozen years to their trophy case. Over the last two seasons, he has averaged a double-double (19 points, 11 rebounds in 2011).

Kellen's dad is Tim McCormick, one of Oakland County's all-time prep greats, taking the Clarkston Wolfpack to the Class A Final Four as a senior back in 1980 before going on to have an All-Big 10 career at Michigan and pro stints with a variety of teams including the New York Knicks, Philadelphia 76ers, Houston Rockets and Atlanta Hawks in a decade on the NBA hardwood.

The basketball gene is in Price's family as well. Austin Price, Jodan's little brother, will be a junior in 2012 and the Yellowjackets' starting point guard after coming off the bench last season