Keon Ellis is a 6-foot-6 185-pound shooting guard from Leesburg High School in Florida, and he is no stranger to playing behind great players. Ellis played behind two players at Florida Southwestern State his freshman year who transferred to power five schools: Charles Manning Jr. at LSU and Maddox Daniels at Colorado.

After averaging only 8 points a game and 29 percent shooting from beyond the arc, Ellis knew he needed to put in extra work to maximize his potential. He has done that, and it is now his time to shine. Ellis is a sophomore at the No. 1 junior college basketball team in the country, Florida Southwestern State, coached by Eric Murphy.



He could see the potential Ellis had. In a recent interview with BamaInsider Murphy stated, “Keon worked a lot on his game during the summer. He worked a lot on his three-point shooting and you can really see his hard work pay off.”

Ellis jumped from averaging 8 points and 29 percent from 3 his freshman year to 18.7 points on 43 percent 3-point shooting. The hard work has definitely paid off, and power five programs are taking notice.



Ellis announced Friday via Twitter that he received an official scholarship offer to play at Alabama. Other schools that have visited campus to see Ellis include: Iowa State, Kansas State, Georgia, Oklahoma State, South Florida, and several more. Coach Nate Oats has not been on campus at Alabama for a full calendar year yet, but one can see what style of play he wants to play: fast and hard-nosed.

Ellis has traits that would flourish under Oat’s system such as his elite 3-point shooting and his long wingspan that he uses to play excellent defense. One of the most underrated aspects of Ellis’ game is his defense.

He averages 2.5 steals and over a block per game this season. Ellis has the defensive effort and offensive skill that coach Oats is desperately looking for in a player. Don’t anticipate a decision from Ellis until after their season concludes, but he is sure to have plenty of interested programs looking his way.