Q & A: Trendon Watford and his father, Ernest, recap IU visit

  • 09/17/2017 2:21 pm in

Ernest Watford: “Ed Schilling is our guy there. We’ve known Ed a long time going back to when Christian was going through training and Trendon remembers him. But to answer your question: They’ve turned up the heat in the recruiting as far as contact. We contact them, they contact us. They’ve turned that up tremendously from early March to now. They definitely appear, to us, that he’s one of their top priorities for 2019.”

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On how Trendon and Christian are different in their personalities on the court and their approach:

Ernest Watford: “I think Trendon, at a young age … getting a chance to go into Big Ten arenas all over the country and getting a chance to come to Cook Hall and Assembly and play and even being young, I think has helped him tremendously. Having an older brother to mentor him and to move him in some directions that he went through that, obviously he wants the best for his brother and for him not to have to go through some of those things. But personality wise, Trendon is a little more edgy on the court. He plays with a little more dog, a little more fire. Christian is super skilled and Trendon is probably more skilled than Christian was at 16 years old. The difference is having an older brother, that puts you in the position to know what you have to have and how you’ve got to equip yourself every day. Everything is based off of potential now. We make sure we instill in Trendon that rankings are good, but at the end of the day, you’ve got to have a game that will transition to that level. Christian tries to make sure he works on that and we try to make sure we move him in that direction.”

On how much of an advantage is it for the family having already gone through this process before with Christian:

Ernest Watford: “You can’t even put a value on it. Just the overall experience of it all going through it at a high level with your first kid and you have a chance to go through it again, there are some points you listen for and you get a good feel and a good vibe, it’s a tremendous advantage. And to have Christian’s input, because he actually went through it … I’m his father, I was there with him going through it from a parent standpoint, but actually fighting through the D-League, fighting overseas and still trying to fulfill his dream, that part alone is probably more beneficial to me as a father. Because collectively, wherever Trendon decides to go, it will be Christian, Trendon and my decision and then his mom. It will be a family decision. We’ll definitely lean on Christian a lot because of his experience and the experiences I’ve had as a father. It helps out a lot having gone through it.”

On how Christian feels about Indiana recruiting Trendon:

Ernest Watford: “He’s excited about it because he wasn’t so much excited that they weren’t from the beginning. He didn’t really understand it. Obviously we respect coach (Tom) Crean and that was our coach there and we did everything we could with that. We don’t take that for granted or badmouth anything. Maybe it was coming, we don’t know. But this staff has reached out to him and Christian is excited about it. He was excited about going to watch his sister and actually getting a chance to go on the visit with his brother. That’s special to be able to go back to the school and the new coaching staff embraces not only the recruit, but the recruit’s family and reaches out to the former guys there and makes them feel a part of it. It was big for Christian. He hadn’t seen any of the renovations either. We were excited to see that. We were extremely excited to talk with Archie and learn about his approach. He’s everything Indiana is going to need. I think it’s a good hire for them.”

On what stood out about the visit:

Trendon Watford: “What mainly stood out is the new facility and the way the new Assembly Hall looks.”

On Archie Miller and the coaching staff:

Trendon Watford: “They’re already making changes in the program. A whole new staff, all new faces around. Archie seems like a pretty cool coach and a pretty cool person as well.”

On what it was like to go on the visit with Christian:

Trendon Watford: “It was good. He couldn’t walk outside for five minutes without people know him. He’s still taking pictures and everything. That was all good.”

On how much he’s hearing from Indiana:

Trendon Watford: “I’m hearing from them at least every two days from either Archie or coach Ed Schilling. They came and saw me last week at school.”

On the renovations at Assembly Hall:

Trendon Watford: “Everything is different. It was all impressive, especially the way they’ve got Assembly Hall set up now. It definitely wasn’t like that when Christian was playing there. It was really impressive.”

On the recruiting process and when he plans to decide:

Trendon Watford: “Probably next fall or after my AAU season next year I’ll either cut a list or make a decision. Right now, I’m just enjoying every visit and every school that is recruiting right me right now. Enjoying all of them and the process.”

On the schools he’s hearing from most in addition to IU and Alabama:

Trendon Watford: “Kansas, LSU, Illinois, NC State, Memphis, Wake Forest, Tennessee.”

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