Chipola among nations best again

If you're looking for Division One prospects in junior college, Chipola is never a bad place to start. And once again, Greg Heiar's program is loaded with big-time talent.

The headliners are a couple of high major players who signed with Big 12 programs out of Chicago high schools. Jamarcus Ellis inked with Texas A&M out of high school while DeAndre Thomas signed to play at Missouri. After stints at Chipola, both will be eligible to return to Division One this season.

Indiana, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Ole Miss and Texas A&M are the schools listed by Heiar as recruiting Ellis heavily at this point. Thomas has even a few more schools on his list.

"He's just got to continue to get in better and better shape," Heiar said. "Offensively, he's as good as there is on the low block, his recruiting is all going to depend on his conditioning. He's got a lot of the same schools recruiting him as well as UNLV, Wyoming. All of them have come by to see him play."

Thomas and Harris are the recognizable names, but there are four other players who could go Division One. Victor Dubovitskiy, Johnnie Harris and Ed Berrios all should turn the heads of college coaches.

"The Russian's (Dubovitskiy) got a chance to play at the high level," Heiar said. "He can really shoot it, he's athletic, he's really improved his ball skills since he's been here. He's got to improve still defensively. His level is going to depend on how he buys into defense, but he's a great kid, works hard, and I really think he's going to be real good by end of the year. "

Michael Vogler and Eric Price will also be attractive to college coaches because they will have three years of eligibility. And all the players should benefit from the exposure that Ellis and Thomas will bring.

"Having Jamarcus Ellis and DeAndre Thomas that forces double teams, if you can shoot the ball well, you're going to have a great year," Heiar said. "Those two kids are very unselfish, they're about winning."

So is Chipola.