UK basketball adds son of UK track coach
E.J. Floreal, son of UK track coach Edrick Floreal, will walk on at Kentucky next season, he announced this morning via Twitter. Floreal played his senior season at Dunbar in Lexington after three seasons at Palo Alto in California. He moved to Kentucky when his dad accepted the job at UK last summer.
As a junior at Palo Alto, Floreal was named Boys Track Athlete of the Year and averaged 14.3 points, 7.3 rebounds and three assists per game on the basketball court. ESPN named him preseason All-State honorable mention in California prior to that season. At Dunbar, he averaged 12.9 points per game and pulled in 10.5 rebounds as a senior.
Floreal also received interest from Tennessee and a few small schools in California.
Welcome aboard.
45 Comments for UK basketball adds son of UK track coach
Billy G: “Walk on!?!?! Heck, this looks like an elite recruit to me…”
He’s a heck of an athlete. Terrible looking jumpshot, but he looks like he might be able to get on the floor in a couple years – Polson style. Welcome EJ. Here’s a link with more info on him from a CA newspaper.
http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/show_story.php?id=26044
Andrew who??? 🙂
First. Also, saw Julius Randle at the mall yesterday. He’s enormous.
Looks like one of the best walk ons we have had in a while. He will be a solid four year player
Very nice get for a walk-on! Welcome EJ!
Also, I’m glad he’s enrolling early. With Wiltjer out and a couple of the other freshmen not yet enrolled, I’m glad we have another athletic body to practice against during Summer Session 1.
That Floreal has to be one of the coolest names
Yep def the best walk on we’ve had in the past few years, plus he’s playing fo free!
He attacks on defense too. Welcome aboard EJ
Jumper is a little awkward but in the high stakes industry of run and gun ball hes a gem that can finish at the rim.
Hopefully he will turn into a Ravi Moss and really contribute as a three or four year player.
Very solid walk-on whose Dad is doing a great job with UK’s track team. Good move by Cal.
Also, how many walk-ons in America will be the fastest guy from end to end on his team? I guarantee this kid will be.
If this guy is a ‘walk-on’, do we have to come up with a new term to describe Brian Long?
LOOKS AND PLAYS LIKE Darius Miller
Just call EJ a ‘sprint-on’
15… Crawl-On!
😉
His jumper is BROKE!
good athlete but that jumper is fugly
Floreal is Fo Real! (patent pending)
Is this kid fo real? no, he’s flo real
Stoops should also take a look at a kid that athletic
16.
Plays like Darius Miller? This dude has a really awkward looking jumper, which was always one of Miller’s strongest parts of his game. Plus, this kid is WAY more athletic
Fantastic. I read about two weeks ago that a good walk-on was being added, though I did not know who it was (someone left a comment about this on a Dominique Hawkins highlight video that I was watching).
Yeah, the jumper may have problems, but that can be fixed (I’m sure James Young, Kyle Wiltjer, and Aaron Harrison can teach him a few things, as well as the coaching staff). As athletic as he is, I can only imagine his basketball skills improving, and he will definitely see some actual playing time in his upperclassman years.
His aggressiveness on defense coupled with his athleticism is very good, and those traits may make him break through into the lineup for occasional minutes as early as even this season.
The rich keep getting richer and the greatest recruiting class of all time keeps getting greater. A 9-man class. Unbelievable!
This dude is a dead ringer for William Gates of the Hoop Dreams documentary from the mid 90’s.
Wouldn’t be surprised if he gets some minutes as a defensive specialist at the 2 this year.
Went to school with EJ this year. Great kid off the court on the court he knows how to throw it down. Can’t reay handle the ball well or shoot at all, I never ever saw him shoot a jumpshot other than a free throw. Plays defense very well but for the position he played this year as a PF is just too small. If he can improve his offensive game he will easily see playing time In his 4 years there
How tall is he?
If you guys want to see what type of player Floreal will be in four years just take a look at D.J. Stephens’ senior year at Memphis this past season. Very similar players coming out of high school.
29. 6-4 or 6-5
probably 6-4
24) Are you serious? WAY more athletic than Darius Miller??
*Double Face Palm*
It’s nice to have a 100m and 200m state champion runner hidden on your bench, below the scouting report. He can be helpful for a team that Calipari already said will press a large portion of games. I can see him in the game for 3-5min intervals with Calipari yelling “go get the ball!!”
Stephens was recruited by Cal at Memphis and could jump out the gym and throw it down. He couldn’t shoot a lick, but his shot improved dramatically by his senior season. Similar to Floreal, Stephens is only about 6-5, but he also has a 7-foot wingspan. I’m not sure what Floreal’s wingpspan is, but I know he’s long as well. Floreal is actually comfortable handling the basketball but like a couple have already said his stroke needs work. He had an offer from Cal Poly while Oregon, Portland State and Hawaii were also interested him (along with Tennessee).
How many walk-on are we going to have??? its gonna be the whole student body sitting on the bench.
I appreciate that Cal is also recruiting for the long run, last season really has taught him something.
Seems like a nice pick-up. Should be a nice practice player. Hopefully we won’t really use him this year if things go according to plan.
UK, where our walk ones have mix tapes.
Could he be a hybrid of Miller/Liggins? Athletic defender with suspect jump shot? Me likey!
Danville Brian it’s pretty embarrassing that you had to put first in your comment and even worse you were fourth
I go to Dunbar and saw him play a lot this season. He’s very athletic and good defensively. However, at times, he struggled with his jump shot. He’s a very good rebounder for his size and plays very hard. He’s very athletic (as you can tell) and can develop into a contributor in coming years in my opinion.
He would start at Louisville……hahahahahahaha
Long arms.
I think being the son of a successful coach bodes well for him, he was probably raised to be disciplined and strong willed. Those are high-value traits in a walk on as they have to grind just as hard in practice as the scholarship players but don’t get to see the floor much.
Three weeks ago at the state track meet I was told by his dad that he would be walking on. He said to not to say anything till it was announced. The family is very excited about this opportunity and being able to stay at home instead of going to Calif. for college. He will be worked at the 2. As many have said he is very athletic great speed and has a 40″ vertical. One important thing he truly loves basketball and will work very hard to contribute to the team, also he and Brad Calipari are great friends and often play ball at the Craft center.