Doles Picks Coker

publication date: Jul 14, 2008

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author/source: Tim Altork / STAFF

By Tim Altork / STAFF

Centennial’s Delonte Doles will take on Conference Carolinas with the Coker Cobras next season.

Former Centennial point guard Delonte Doles has accepted a scholarship offer from Coker College in Hartsfield, S.C.

The 5-foot-9 speedy point guard was a starter on the Centennial squad that lost to Norcross in the state finals in 2007 and helped lead the Knights to a 52-11 record in his two seasons with the team.

Doles said that he also had a basketball offer from the University of North Florida and a handfull of football offers from Division I-AA schools Urbana, Belmont and Murray State.

“Basically the coaches recruited me,” he said on why he chose Coker, “and I didn’t want to go to a school that I was recruiting. I wanted to go to a school that wanted me. And that coach was on me since the beginning [of the season].”

Dan Schmotzer and his staff first got a look at Doles when the Knights traveled to an early-season tournament in South Carolina last season. Doles said that Schmotzer and his staff never wavered in their interest and that was what sold him on the opportunity.

“We built a relationship,” he said. “I went up there on a visit and got in good with the players. So I just felt comfortable.”

Interest in Doles for basketball dropped off as the season went on, mostly because he struggled to regain his form thanks to an injury to his right (shooting) shoulder that he suffered the last week of football season. A solid outside shooter his junior year, Doles never really found the stroke on his shot during a disappointing senior season.

“My shoulder was hurting me the whole season,” he confessed. “It messed up my jumper a little bit. My junior year I could knock down the three ball a little bit. This year I struggled from behind the arc, so it definitely effected me.”

With his shoulder around 85 percent healthy he feels like he’s in a good place to help contribute to the Cobras squad right away.

“They’ve got a senior point guard coming back next year, but when I went up there for the workout, you know, I gave them buckets,” he said.

Coker competes in Division II and is a member of Conference Carolinas.