MidStateHoops.com :: Safford Garnering Scholarship Offers

Last season, Bloomington Central Catholic was one of the top Class A schools throughout the state of Illinois. They featured some very talented players. Among them were Tennessee-Chattanooga recruit-Brandon Dunson, Augustana guard-Matt Pelton, and Illinois football commit-Josh Brent. However, the best prospect was, then 6’7”, forward Justin Safford.

As a senior, Safford averaged 12 ppg and 7 rpg. He led the team in scoring and began to draw Division I interest. However, grades were an issue. Because of this, most college programs backed off the big forward.

Justin decided to go the prep route. He finished out the AAU season with Team Illinois where he averaged nearly 12 ppg. Along the way, he picked up some mid major interest from a few colleges including Denver, Illinois-Chicago, and Northern Colorado. After the circuit was through, he headed to Charis Prep in Goldsboro, North Carolina.

Immediately, Safford began improving different aspects of his game. He grew another two inches and was playing better than ever. The 6’9” forward began to pick up mid major interest and garner a few scholarships from schools including Winthrop, UNC-Greensboro, UNC-Wilmington, and San Diego, while averaging 18 ppg, 11 rpg, and 3 bpg. Around the same time, he was slowly but surely drawing high major programs his way including South Carolina, Illinois, and Missouri.

Justin broke his left wrist (shooting hand) before the Christmas holiday and was forced to sit out for over a month of play. Luckily, there weren’t many games throughout the break. During the time of his injury, he began to improve his shooting and ball handling with his off hand. Now that the cast is removed, he is now much better with his right hand and his left hand is getting back to full strength.

Currently, Safford has two major offers from Xavier and Virginia Tech. Missouri and Wake Forest are also pursuing him heavily. Other schools heftily following his progress include Providence, South Carolina, Illinois, Bradley, Nevada, and Oklahoma.

MidStateHoops.com always believed that Justin was going to be a bigtime player as we nominted him as one of our 50 McDonald's All-American candidates for the class of 2006. We stated last season that he was one of the most underrated players throughout the area and his success has once again proved us correct. We will continue to monitor his progress throughout the rest of the year.