Hello: Riley Kennedy

MI A Riley Kennedy’s commitment to Michigan was confirmed a while ago, but I finally got the time to profile him. Here goes:

Future Wolverine Riley Kennedy (photo via ESPN Rise)

As you can most likely discern from the photo above, he participated in the ESPN Warrior 40 event in July, and his profile from that event includes a mini-breakdown of his game:

The Michigan native made the trip to Hofstra and earned the trip to Boston for the Warrior 40. The junior is a good dodger and is an all-around attacker. He has good field awareness coaches said, “when he got around the goal he would take the extra step and bury the ball in the cage.”

ESPN HS also has a post-commitment interview with Kennedy:

“Michigan was a very attractive choice because of their wonderful athletic facilities, academic curriculum and awesome college atmosphere. I also had a great time on my visit with coach John Paul.”

Kennedy scored four goals in the Brother Rice State Finals victory over Forest Hills Eastern/Northern.

On the year, he scored 58 goals and notched 29 assists en route to All-American honors as a junior.

He has participated in a lacrosse outreach program called LAX BACK, which introduces young people to the game.

Based on his highlight video (embedded below), he’s a well-rounded attackman. He’s primarily left-handed, but shows the ability to shoot and dodge righty. He actually has a pretty hard shot when given time-and-room – or even on the run – and seems more like a wing shooter than a distributor as an attackman.

Per usual, you can expect a Brother Rice product to have good knowledge of the game and solid instincts. There isn’t a whole lot of footage of him on the ride, but Warriors are typically good in that department, as well.

Other Interest

Per the ESPNHS interview, Kennedy’s other schools of interest were Drexel, Vermont, Marquette, and Bucknell. I get the distinct impression that Michigan and Marquette are going to have their fair share of recruiting battles from Brother Rice in the future – more on future Golden Eagles and Wolverines from Rice in a moment.

The other three schools are all Division-1 programs – as is Marquette, just not yet – with varying degrees of success in the recent past. Bucknell was LaxPower’s #12 team last season, and the Bison lost to eventual National Champion Virginia in the NCAA tournament (I’m willing to wager that bringing Judd Lattimore from Bucknell might have played a role in some of Michigan’s recruiting wins this offseason). Drexel was the #16 team to LaxPower’s computers, and Vermont was #31.

Those are decent schools to beat in recruiting, but this certainly isn’t a battle that involved the likes of Syracuse or Hopkins.

Teammates of Note

Kennedy on the dodge.

Anyone who follows lacrosse in the State of Michigan (which you likely do if you’re at Great Lax State) is well-aware of the status of Brother Rice in the state. Kennedy is the second Warrior-cum-Wolverine in the class of 2012 (following D/LSM Chris Walker), and the third D-1 commit in the class, joining Marquette-bound Henry Nelson.

Along with 2011 attackman Will Meter, Kennedy becomes the third Brother Rice player to commit to Michigan in the varsity era. The 2011 graduating class also included a Delaware-bound midfielder (Bennett Packer), and Riley’s older brother, KC Kennedy, headed to Marquette. Midfielder Jake Jaskolski is headed to D-3 Emmanuel.

In 2010, only two Brother Rice players went on to play at the next level. Midfielder Grant Fisher signed with Georgetown, and defender Rich Varos joined the D-3 squad at Denison University.

The 2009 class sent five players to the Division-1 ranks, most impressively midfielders Danny Henneghan and Nick Dolik to Penn State, where they’ve impressed as a faceoff specialist and offensive threat, respectively. Defender Jamie Hebden was second-team All-MAAC as a sophomore at Detroit. Midfielder Bryan Walker (older brother of Michigan commitment Chris) has seen limited time at Yale and goalie TJ Yost has entered only three games at Quinnipiac. Peter Plaskey plays at D-2 Mercyhurst and Matthew Hamilton at D-3 Adrian.

Video

Highlights from LacrosseRecruits.com:

If you’re so inclined, you can also check out a couple complete games for Brother Rice on the MHSAA website.

The Upshot

Kennedy brings a skillset that complements a lot of the guys Michigan is already bringing in. He’s not a huge crease finisher, but nor is he a distributor-type (though he has the skills to perform either role, most likely).

Going forward, he should be a solid contributor – perhaps not right away, but sooner rather than later – and will help Michigan establish a pipeline into Brother Rice. Locking down the home-state talent will be big for Michigan, and allow them to spend their time on the East Coast (where there is more competition in recruiting) going after fewer prospects.