Alex Kline of theRecruitScoop.com posted a lengthy article about Villanova recruit, Markus Kennedy. As you have heard earlier, Kennedy will be spending a post-graduate year at Brewster Academy instead of enrolling as a freshman. While some were concerned about that move, the article sheds some light on his decision.
Kennedy has a history of changing schools; Brewster is his fourth high school in five years. Despite this, don't call Markus immature:
“It’s not hard just as a basketball player, but for anyone,” he stated. “I have seen drug deals being made and I have heard gun shots.” He is the man of the house. His father, Ross, left the family when Markus was thirteen-years old. "My roles and duties are something I have to go,” stated Kennedy. “Basketball is just a stepping stone for me.” While overcoming obstacles, Markus has had to move from house to house; school to school because of the challenges of the hood.
Pursuing his hoop dreams has taken Kennedy down a number of difficult roads.
“I left St. Pat’s because of the travel, not for anything else,” said Kennedy. “Getting up at three in the morning and not getting home until eleven at night was not fun. I was sixteen-years old at the time. It was to much to handle.”
Markus then attended Living Faith Academy in New Jersey during the 2008-2009 season. Due to a lack of funding, that school closed and the rising senior was forced to attend a new school for his senior year. Kennedy found the Winchendon School in Massachusetts. “I liked it there, I really did,” he said. “I couldn’t stay though because head coach Mike Byrnes left. He was the main reason I came there.”
Kennedy's school-hopping was really no-fault of his own. While some blue-chip recruits like Michael Gilchrist regularly make long commutes to attend elite programs like St. Patricks, few of them are expected to fulfill the daily duties of caring for their younger siblings and being the man of the house.
When asked what his ultimate goal was, Kennedy told theRecruitScoop.com, "I want to make it for my family." He is spending this academic year at Brewster Academy to work on his game to get better and make a bigger splash in college.
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