Ready for the World: Freshmen deliver early

Top five Michigan 2025 prospect Sharod Barnes of Orchard Lake St. Mary’s.

A week into the season, and already members of Michigan’s 2025 class are producing at the varsity level.

Detroit Renaissance starts two freshman, 6-5 Jayden Savoury and 5-7 Lance Stone, and is 2-0. Savoury had 24 points and 12 rebounds Saturday against U Prep, while Stone handed out 10 assists. Savoury is a classic matchup problem who will take forwards outside, or horse wings in the paint. Stone sees the floor and runs a team beyond his years, and has the scoring chops, if not yet unleashed, to be an all-stater as an upperclassman.

As good as the two Phoenix are, it’s not the top 2025 combo in Michigan. At Orchard Lake St. Mary’s the Eaglets have a freshman backcourt that could match up with any in America, with 6-5 Trey McKenney and 6-3 Sharod Barnes. McKenney has the size and feel of a Terry Armstrong but with solid people around him, the skill of a Dion Harris but hopefully with more fire. More reason for optimism is that despite his height, he looks young in his face and physique, so there is more athleticism in the tank as he matures to go with the basketball talent and IQ. Barnes will get varsity tick on a team with myriad D1 recruits because he is already a physical defender.

Carson Vis is a 6-2 freshman from Grand Rapids South Christian who came off the bench already in attack mode in his first varsity game against Grand Rapids Christian, then scored 14, including a dunk, against Holland Christian. Vis has a great first step and is pretty long and springy, allowing him to score in the lane when not getting knocked around. A left-hander who is fast end-to-end. Will only get better as he takes a breath, sees the next play and gets teammates involved.

Warren Lincoln has six underclassmen in its rotation, including starting freshman guards 5-8 Moses Blackwell and 6-2 Marcus Blackwell. Moses is a classic point guard who can get to the elbow and kick to jumpshooters or to the block to dish for assists. Like little guards have to be, he’s aggressive and a pest on D. Marcus is a good shooter when in rhythm and has good potential as a defender at the top of the press. Like most ninth-graders in December, his shot selection and off-ball defense can improve. Moses had 15 points and six assists in a Saturday loss to a good Oak Park team, and Marcus scored 14, after 15 points in his high school debut, a win over Madison Heights.

The future is bright at Davison under new coach Mike Williams. They have three good freshmen, 6-5 inside-outside twins Dempsey Cull and Jesse Cull and 6-2 point guard Greg Lawson.

In the deep Southwest of the state, 6-4 Stevensville-Lakeshore freshman JJ Frakes, son of Gen X star Joel Frakes from the same alma mater, comes into high school with the kind of buzz usually reserved in the area for Benton Harbor prospects. He scored 11 in his debut, a win over South Haven, then 12 points against Portage Central. Frakes is a shooter, but also already an above-the-rim finisher with a sliver of daylight.

The only underclassman for top five D1 team Detroit Cass Tech, 5-10 freshman point guard Darius Acuff showed why he got called up with 17 points and six assists in a big win over Southfield.

A Houston native now at West Bloomfield for first-year coach Arnette Jordan, 6-1 freshman Tory James looks like he could end up one of the best shooters in the 2025 class. He scored 10 in his varsity debut, a Lakers’ win over Groves.