The Stetson Hatters have had trouble recruiting in their home state of Florida.  Located on the 1-4 corridor in tiny DeLand, the Hatters are mad to believe they have a chance of competing with all of the major colleges just down the road. These schools were already promising the kids all kinds of treasure if they come their way and with the new NIL rules these lower-level programs don’t have a chance of competing for recruits.  Or do they?  Long times Coach Glenn Wilkes understands he has to get the second-tier recruits at best, especially big men, as their brethren just north of them from Jacksonville seem to have taken all of the good ones.  With that being said, the Hatters have an X factor of a Coach that knows how to make men out of boys and turns mashed potatoes into soufflé.  Wilkes has been able to find some ‘diamonds’ in the rough but these are few and far between.  Still, the Hatters do a great job of competing with what they have. This program must have time not only to develop but find some players who can upgrade their personnel.  With a coach like Wilkes give him the talent that Jacksonville has and he would have a national contender.  But the man who is the catalyst for the biggest rivalry in the conference (Wilkes graduated from Mercer) would rather be a legend coaching the kids he has got. 

There was one kid who has some talent on the roster.  By the end of the season the best player on the team was a JC transfer named guard Ernest Killum.  Killum transferred in from Coahoma CC and almost immediately made his presence known in the city Tattoo calls DeLand.  To imagine this team without Killum is almost unthinkable.   Killum is a terrific scorer who gets the job done with smarts and a quick trigger.  An athletic six three guard who can flat get to the hoop and finish.  He knows how to play and easily led the team in scoring averaging over 18 a game while also chipping in almost four and a half boards and almost three assists.  This kid has worked himself up from working in the cotton fields of Mississippi (with some seasoning at that JC) to getting himself on the verge of becoming a professional player.  He did have a setback this year twisting his knee but with some ‘beach therapy’ was back on the court after a four-game hiatus.  Killum would run through the sand every day for hours strengthening his knee to the point when he got back he was stronger than before announcing his return with a thunder slam against Mercer.  He was arguably better than he was before the injury and earned his all-league status.  Earnie was by far the best player on this team and will hopefully be drafted by some lucky team who wants a kid who has a great work ethic and toughness and can score and defend.  He can improve some of his ball handling as he looks more like a swing guard for the pros that the high-volume shooting guard he was for the Hatters.  Still, he was a good influence on his teammates and he was reliable on both ends of the court especially when you needed a bucket or a big play.   Wilkes has a propensity for recruiting two guards and he has more coming up the pike and with Killum showing these kids how to play for one more year, they should be ready to score, if not much more. 

Two other Seniors will begin the year in the starting lineup.  Dalton Epting and Joel Hancock have had solid careers for the Hatters but they will be pushed for minutes as Wilkes is always trying to improve his team.  Epting has been the post and Hancock the point guard for three years here but when they got to DeLong this was an NAIA school!  Still, Epting is one of the best you have ever seen at drawing contact down low though he is usually giving up about five inches in the paint.  Hancock is a Miami native who had been a high scoring one but took a step back with Killum around.  He is not the best distributor and has trouble guarding cat quick points but he is smart as heck and he still has a few rabbits to pull out of his hat for Stetson. 

Juniors Ken Showers and Ron Beal also lost considerable time with the youth movement but for different reasons.  Beal is an old school grinder down low who at six four was just not big enough no matter how good he was on the wing but Showers was an entirely different story.  This kid has got some game and is athletic as heck.  He is also 6’4 but led the team in boards last season though his offensive game has not caught up to his terrific hops.  Showers, was the first black athlete in DeLong (there is a joke here somewhere) and has been a God Send for the team named like a garth brooks song!  Fellow junior Greg Guye came on strong near the end of the season last year after transferring from Arizona State.  This Detroit native has some size at 6’7 especially for a wing and can score.  He could seriously push for a starting role here after averaging over 18 a game in 10 JV games.  The Hatters need this kid to play, often. 

The rest of the team was a crew of rag tag players with limited skills who did not have a plethora of talent but got by on toughness and guile.  A good example of this is Senior Gene ‘Turkey’ Wells.  Wells started the season in the backcourt next to Hancock but hurt his knee a third of the way through the year.  Wells is a smart player who can score but was not missed due to the ascension of Killium.  Wells had the same thing happened to him the year before when he got to play more often due to legendary John Ingrund’s early injury.  He got huge minutes and was the leading scorer for the Hatters.  When Wells was out Walt Kilcullen got some of his minutes showed he could score as well.  Ingrund recovered but left early to go play baseball.  Ingrund has major league level talent like many of the guys do on the Hatter baseball team including young pitching studs Cory Kluber and Jacob DeGrom.  We know that for this year Killium will be the starting two guard but as for Ingrund, Kilcullen and Wells it is anyone’s guess how much they play if they play at all?  Wilkes has supposedly brought in a huge bunch of wings to compete for playing time this year and of course to carry the Hatters into the future.  Sophomore Frank Burnell will get the first shot though as he was dominant on the JV squad last year until he got called up when Killium went down for those few games.  This 6’5 190 pound stud from Jacksonville proved he belonged as he averaged double digits in points in those four games.  I would not be surprised to see Burnell is some three-guard sets with Killum and Hancock.  

Last season started with two guys getting a shot to be the backup distributor for the team behind Hancock.  Junior Buzzy O’Connell plus Sophomores Brad Weston and Glenn Myrick split the time on JV with Wilkes rotating one of them up to varsity to get whatever minutes were left over by Hancock.  O’Connell is a pure table setter but does not score at all.  Myrick is a lock down defender and a solid playmaker but nowhere as good offensively as Hancock.  Still, he brings a great competitive fire and leadership and will be in the mix for minutes this year off the bench.  Weston is an old school pass first point guard who is decent but will be more practice squad type unless something happens to Hancock. If any of the recruits (JC or 4 year) are all that then all bets are off for these two though Wilkes does love seniority and his pecking order. 

The Hatters do have some talent up front even if it is green and undeveloped.  Seniors Ted ‘Lurch’ Cassidy, Lamar Deaver and Bill Hester will do battle once again for minutes with each other but will have a hard time fighting off the underclassmen who are generally bigger and more athletic.  Hester, for instance, only goes 6’3 200.  This Edgewater kid can play but missed most of last year with an injury but is healthy and looking to rebound, literally.  Deaver is a bit bigger but rail thin and this JC transfer took most of last year adjusting to the physicality of D-1.  He can score and board some and could surprise.  Cassidy has the most size at 6’9 and is as tough as the city he was born in, Pittsburgh PA.  Cassidy played prep ball in Philippi West Virginia and is known for his stoic sense of humor in the lockerroom.  He can also play some but comes off more of a bodyguard down low for his teammates than as an actual player.  Sophomore Randy Anderson might just be the best and most consistent post player on the roster, at least on the offensive end.  He is physical and comes to work every night.  He is just the type of player Wilkes loves.  Blue Collar all the way that makes the most of his six foot six frame (man this team has too many six five or six six dudes) to get great position down low.  Terrific on the boards, Anderson found himself guarding some much bigger guys, however.  I mean as tough as he is and as hard as he works it is hard to try and guard guys 3 to 5 inches taller than you and in Parish and Gilmore, much more than that.  As a swing post player that is what you do and that is what this kid will continue to do for three more years because one thing is for sure Wilkes will play this kid as much as he can as he has to have somebody who can score a little in the paint.  But there is nobody on the roster who can match up with those monster big men.  At least not on the returning roster.  Sophomores Wilbur Montgomery and Mike Reddick did yeoman’s work as post options when they got their chance, which was not often except on the JV team.  Montgomery is a solid player who knows how to use his body to get position and knows what to do with the ball when he gets it.  He is not that athletic but gets the job done even if he only goes yep, you guessed it, 6’6.  Reddick is a little bigger at 6’8 210 but a similar player.  These two are more depth than star but good players.   

The Stetson Hatters may not be able to compete with Florida and Florida State or even Jacksonville for recruits but they are making progress.  They do have some advantages.  Coach Glenn Wilkes is a great motivator and game tactician who knows how to make the most of what he has. He also runs nationwide camps with the best players in the country though not many have decided to come join him down in DeLand Florida.  That will not stop him from trying and he does get some good players though none are going to be Mickey D’s All-Americans any time soon (though one has a chance of working at Disneyworld in a Goofy costume).  Wilkes has an incredible recruiting class and while that make the JV squad the best in the A-Sun, that won’t help this year.  Or will it?  The Redneck fans of the Hatters are mad about their team. All they need is a little more success to turn the J. Ollie Edmunds center into a barn dance.  It will take time but they are on the right track and they have the right Coach to lead them out of the everglades and into the promised-land.