August 27, 2009

The transfer fallout at LN

Posted by Kyle Neddenriep

Lawrence North ended up losing both Dominique Ferguson and Justin Martin after all.

There had been rumors going back to last year that both players - both ranked in the top-100 nationally by Rivals.com - could transfer. At one point or another this summer, both said they would be back. Both wanted to come back. But the situation was this: neither Ferguson or Martin was going to complete enough core classes to play right out of high school.

So, Ferguson is at Hargrave Military Academy in Virginia and Martin is at Mountain State University Academy in West Virginia. Both of the players' fathers said they weren't getting the support they needed academically at Lawrence North. Veteran coach Jack Keefer said that wasn't the case. He said both Ferguson and Martin had a tutor working with them daily and an after school program available every day.

Keefer also railed on the prep school system. Ferguson has committed to Florida International and Martin to Xavier.

"It's the easy way out," he said. "I'm disappointed in (colleges) that sell out in such a way; send them to prep school and they'll be taken care of. Something needs to be done. I know I'll be made out to be the bad guy, but we did everything we could for these guys. We have a strong track record here."

Keefer was adamant about Lawrence North's history of producing strong students from its athletic programs. He said both Ferguson and Martin kept themselves eligible during the season by both the school's and the Indiana High School Athletic Association's standards.

"I've done my job and the school has done it's job," Keefer said.

Losing two players the caliber of Ferguson and Martin certainly hurts the overall talent level of Lawrence North's roster, but Keefer said he's looking forward to this season with Louisville recruits Michael Chandler and Ryan Taylor - both top-50 prospects in the 2011 class - returning.

"We have a strong junior class and a strong sophomore class," Keefer said. "Yeah, we lost two guys who are ranked really high. But I'm not sure who's doing the rankings."