Here’s how much respect the Fishburne Military School postgrad basketball team has been able to build in its two-plus years of existence: The team has yet to play a game, and already 10 FMS players have committed to sign with Division I college programs on National Signing Day next week.
“That’s a pretty amazing feat to get that many guys signed already at this point,” said Coach Ed Huckaby, whose team tips off the 2011-2012 season Wednesday night at home against the junior-varsity team from Virginia Military Institute.
And then the competition ramps up severely this weekend with the FMS Tip-Off Challenge and a pair of games against nationally-ranked foes in Southern Tech Prep and Miller School.
The ’11-’12 Caissons will likely have a heightened level of attention from local fans with top UVa. recruit Teven Jones, a 6’0″, 180-pound point guard from Kannapolis, N.C., leading the team into battle. What the new fans will see is a program that has “some very good players, good size, good depth, and more importantly, we’ve got guys who have very good character. How we’re going to play is smart, hard, tough and try to do things fundamentally sound every night to be successful,” Huckaby said.
You will hear that a lot from Huckaby – about doing things “the right way” from the most basic of building blocks.
“This program is not for everyone. if you have a hidden agenda, if it’s about me, me, me, then this is not the program that you want to be part of. It’s a unit here. It’s about us, about we,” Huckaby said.
Huckaby spent 11 years coaching at the college level, and that shows in his approach to getting young men ready for college – both on the court and off.
“This is a prep school. You’re preparing for college. You’re not preparing for high school,” said Huckaby, who operates the FMS program by the motto “Preparation for the Next Level.”
“From study halls to how we take the college courses here, how you deal with your professors and instructors here, scouting reports, your practices, your strength and conditioning routine … we try to make it a total experience for the guys who do come here,” Huckaby said.
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