Smooth shooting 6-foot-4 shooting guard Elijah Kennedy out of Green Run High School in Virginia Beach is writing quite a basketball story. During his sophomore season when the Stallions made the State Tournament for the first time in 35 years, he sustained a gruesome knee injury that ended his season, and some at the time thought if he'd ever return to playing at a high level.
When Kennedy got back as a junior, his game was even better, helping Green Run capture the Region 5A Championship with a double-overtime victory over Norview and a share of the Class 5 State Championship, which was ultimately cancelled due to the pandemic. That season, he connected on a team-high 55 three-pointers, shot 52.5% inside the arc and the Stallions went a perfect 5-0 in games where he scored 20 or more points. His stellar play earned him 1st Team All-State honors in Class 5.
As a senior, Kennedy took his game to another level in averaging 22 points per game on 53.9% shooting from the field (82-of-52), a superb 48.7% behind the three-point line (37-of-76), plus 5.6 rebounds, 3.1 steals and 2.6 assists per contest. As Green Run won a second straight regional title and reached the State Finals once again, his outstanding play earned him Virginia High School Coaches Association Class 5 State Player of the Year recognition.
This spring and summer on the travel circuit, Kennedy has continued to shine playing with the Boo Williams AAU organization. BWSL just wrapped up a 7-5 record over two weeks at the prestigious Nike EYBL Peach Jam - going 5-2 the first week and 2-3 the past several days. During Peach Jam, the '757' prospect averaged 11.4 PPG and was 16-of-17 from the foul line (94.1%) with 16 rebounds and 12 assists compared to just three turnovers.
Oddly enough as the case was for many Class of 2021 prospects during COVID-19, Kennedy's recruitment was very lukewarm. That was until recently. Offers from a variety of programs have trickled in, some of the latest including St. Bonaventure, VCU and Western Carolina. The big one came last Sunday - July 18th - with the Florida Gators extending a scholarship his direction.
Initially, Kennedy had committed along with Green Run teammate Jacob Cooper the 2019-20 VHSL Class 5 State Player of the Year - to do a post-grade season at Combine Academy in North Carolina. That still may be the case. However, the Gators - with new assistant Akeem Miskdeen spearheading the recruiting efforts - are apparently eyeballing him to possibly come in as a 2021 recruit rather than as a 2022 prospect.
Kennedy is slated to take a visit down to Gainesville next week and a commitment could be forthcoming as UF continues to make him a top priority. Should he decide, he'd join a list of Hampton Roads natives to play their College Basketball for the Gators that features Norcom two-time State Player of the Year Dorian Finney-Smith of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks and Keyontae Johnson, the 2020-21 SEC Preseason Player of the Year.
Miskdeen is no stranger to players in the state of Virginia as he was once an assistant at Hampton University before stops at Kent State and most recently Florida Atlantic.
