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One of the best prep schools in the nation, Brewster Academy, not only sends their players to play at a high level in college, but also some of them go on to play in the NBA. Jason Smith, who is the head coach of Brewster, coached two current Georgetown Hoyas: sophomore Isaac Copeland and freshman Marcus Derrickson.
When Isaac Copeland arrived at Brewster during the start of his senior season, he was a mostly different player than he is now, but had a few of the same qualities. Smith told Big East Coast Bias that Copeland was, "really versatile, and he was shocked at how well he rebounded the ball. Also as a freshman at Georgetown, he rebounded the ball really well." .
When watching Copeland, he is just not limited to just one position because he does a lot on the court. Copeland really rebounds the ball well for someone with his size, because he does not look very physical, but he is always crashing the boards. John Thompson III noted once Copeland starts getting into a rhythm defensively, his offensive game follows suit.
Jason Smith said in order for Copeland to improve during his sophomore season, "he will need to continue to improve everyday, improve his ball-handling, shoot the ball more consistently from the perimeter and become more of a complete player. He is already as versatile as a player that I have ever coached, he is great kid and works hard",
As for Copeland's new teammate, Marcus Derrickson, who transferred to Brewster during his senior season, the first thing that Smith noticed about him was that he was between 270-280 pounds. Smith said that he has never been around a player who has transformed his body in a short period of time.
Derrickson went from 280 to 237 right now and will need to continue to work on his body. When Marcus was at Brewster, he put in all the time in order to get his body to were he can be more of a better player. Josh Lee, who helped Derrickson, mentioned that he changed his diet and drank a lot of water. The one thing that many people do not recognize about Derrickson is that he can shoot the ball extremely well from the perimeter. Smith told Big East Coast Bias that he is a "tremendous three point shooter".
Before he even lost weight, Derrickson always was on the shooting machine to improve the consistency of his shot. He has always been able to shoot the ball, even when he was at Paul VI in Fairfax. Brewster was the perfect situation for him because he had to leave his house at 6AM to get to the school, and had enough time to shoot and work out before classes began.
Smith thinks that Derrickson will make an impact at Georgetown because he is so versatile and athletic. He can really run the floor well. Smith has coached two versatile players that are now Georgetown Hoyas. One has already made an impact last season, while the other is looking forward to his first season as a college basketball player.