Meet Your New Basketball Eagles: Kyle Caudill

Time for something different today.

Say hello to the (possible backup) center for the Eagles, Kyle Caudill (#5). The Eagles official bio now lists him as “KC Caudill,” but I don’t think the nickname is going to grow on me.

Speaking of growth, Caudill has done plenty of it in his eighteen years and now stands at 6-10.

If he’s at Lower Dining Hall, you won’t be able to miss him, especially if he’s hanging out with Dennis Clifford. He’s a big guy, and brings some size that last year’s BC team lacked at center (he is as tall as Josh Southern, but has a good 15 pounds on him and is just a freshman, though reportedly he has lost some weight).

This Californian, who decommitted from Arizona State in 2009 and opted for Boston College last year, scored a whole lot of points in his senior season, but that was far from his only attribute. Caudill averaged 22 points per game last year and 12.1 rebounds, as well as 3.1 blocks. In fact, each of his last two seasons in high school, he averaged a double-double. Now I have to say that I typically don’t pay much attention to high school sports, and that is why I typically don’t have much to say about recruiting until things actually happen (because tracking 17-year olds doesn’t really seem like an efficient use of my time), but it seems to me that the size dynamic played a big role in Caudill’s success at that level. How many dudes in your high school senior class do you remember being 6-foot-10? Exactly. Because of that sort of advantage, the coach’s game plan may have even been something similar to “pass it to Kyle” for all we know. When he got the ball, he did quite a lot of good things.

Caudill also played on the AAU circuit. On his Pump n’ Run (there’s a joke in there somewhere) team, he was a teammate of Lonnie Jackson and helped them win a title in 2010. Also notably, Caudill has represented the United States in international play: he played for the Under-16 team for the 2009 FIBA Americas Tournament and was part of the 2010 Youth Olympics Under-17 national team.

The small scouting reports I have been able to read, as one might have expected, marvel at his frame, fundamentals, and scoring ability. His Scout report says this:

"Huge young post with very nice hands, good skills and an impressive feel for the game. He’s not real bouncy or quick, but his size and skill level should eventually make him a high major prospect."

From everything I’ve been hearing, Clifford looks like the guy Donahue wants starting, but Caudill will get minutes at center, and I think they’ll be good ones.