Westmoreland high school notebook: Latrobe’s Reed Fenton continues to pile up offers

By: HSSN Staff
Sunday, July 29, 2018 | 5:48 PM

Scholarship offers are coming at Reed Fenton in bunches, harkening Latrobe fans back to times when his father and uncles also were pursued for their basketball talents.

Fenton, playing for the PK Flash AAU program in a number of national tournaments in recent weeks, has been peppered with offers, some days getting two at a time, like Tuesday when Lehigh and Boston University reached out within hours of one another, bringing his total offers to 11.

The 6-foot-4 combo guard with the smooth, pull-up jumper is getting some of the same offers his father, Neal, and uncle, Keith, did while playing at Latrobe.

Neal Fenton played at Navy and Lehigh. Keith Fenton played at Bucknell.

Reed’s other offers include Navy, Drexel, Drake, Dartmouth, Fairfield, Bowling Green, Holy Cross, Marist, American and NJIT.

His father had four Division I offers: Navy, Cornell, William and Mary and Lehigh.

“It’s all very exciting, to be honest,” Reed Fenton said. “All my work is now paying off. I never expected it to be how it is, with the speed at which (offers) are coming in.”

Fenton said he might commit before the high school season.

“Reed’s recruitment is exciting because I knew how good he was. I was just waiting for people to take notice,” PK Flash coach Joe Lewandowski said. “I kept putting things out there for him, and once the live period started, coaches got to see live what they were seeing on video.”

—Action Jackson

Franklin Regional senior-to-be Palmer Jackson said he has scholarship offers from each of the Power 5 conferences and could be nearing a decision on where he will continue his golf career.

Jackson, who recently qualified for the U.S. Amateur and is playing this week in the Junior PGA Championship in Lousville, Ky., has “more than a half-dozen offers” to play Division I golf.

His coach, Jeff Traphagen, said he has talked to schools in the Big Ten and ACC about Jackson.

Jackson, who has three top-10 finishes in the PIAA championship, said he could commit in early August as soon as his schedule slows down.

“I want some time to think about it. I haven’t be able to just slow things down and do that,” he said. “That’s important. I expected to have a decision by now.”

Jackson is not one to advertise his college exploits on social media.

“He is just a humble kid,” Traphagen said. “He isn’t about all the attention. He just wants to go out and have fun playing golf.”

Jackson has spent the summer qualifying for big tournaments, and he thinks that will help him when he gets to college.

“That’s what college golf is all about: qualifying for every match,” he said.

A schedule dilemma will slow Jackson’s start to the WPIAL season, which opens Aug. 13 with tryouts. Jackson will be at Pebble Beach then for the U.S. Amateur.

“I think he’s earned an exemption,” Traphagen said.

Jackson also will play in the suspended West Penn Amateur on Aug. 20. The event was halted by flooding and storms in early July at Fox Chapel Golf Club.

—Strength in numbers

Jackson said the genesis of his white-hot run this summer was in the winter when he took a weight-training class at Franklin Regional, conducted by former Kiski Area and IUP baseball and football standout Jeff Jackson.

“It really helped me with flexibility and to get stronger,” Palmer Jackson said.

Gym time has become part of his nonstop routine.

“I am playing all the time,” Jackson said. “I mean, I might take three days off. That’s a lot for me. Then I go to the gym.”

Jackson already has the regimen of a college athlete. Aside from constant practice and workouts in the gym, he also tries to eat right.

“Doing so much walking on the course, I end up losing weight. I eat as much protein as I can. But you can’t live on protein bars.”

He also played baseball for the high school team and became a dependable pitcher, using a knuckleball with much less spin than one of his low-checking wedge shots, to baffle hitters.

Getting his driver’s license allowed him to ping-pong between baseball and golf — even on cold, spring days. “Being able to drive allowed me to save as much daylight as I could,” Jackson said.

Bill Beckner is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Bill at bbeckner@tribweb.com or via Twitter @BillBeckner.