Emoni Bates is only in eighth grade, but he’s not too young to draw the attention of college basketball’s web of recruiters.
The six-foot-seven honors student at Clague Middle School in Ann Arbor, Michigan has already found himself in the middle of a debate about how young is too young to offer a scholarship. He’s one of the most highly touted players in the Class of 2022 and one of three already promised a scholarship by DePaul University in Chicago.
‘I was excited because it was my first offer,’ he told The Associated Press, ‘but there’s plenty more to come.’
Emoni Bates plays during a fall league basketball game in Saline, Michigan
And Bates isn’t even the youngest player to get an offer. Just two years ago, NBA superstar LeBron James complained that his 10-year-old namesake was already being courted with offers.
‘Let him be a kid,’ is how James put it.
Michigan State’s Tom Izzo said he has a problem with the process and acknowledged coaches deserve at least some of the blame.
‘These kids get so screwed up,’ Izzo told The Associated Press. ‘You see it on Twitter, ‘I’m blessed to get my 29th offer.’ They collect offers. That’s so stupid, but that’s our fault. Not theirs.’
![](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/11/06/20/46132DFF00000578-5053437-image-m-33_1510001826760.jpg)
![Bates still does not know where he will attend high school](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/11/06/20/46132D0300000578-5053437-image-a-34_1510001836019.jpg)
Emoni Bates is a six-foot-seven honors student at Clague Middle School in Ann Arbor
![Emoni Bates lives near Ann Arbor, where the University of Michigan is located, but he also seems to like interstate rival Michigan State, which has been a success under coach Tom Izzo](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/11/06/21/46132E3300000578-5053437-image-a-40_1510002094547.jpg)
Emoni Bates lives near Ann Arbor, where the University of Michigan is located, but he also seems to like interstate rival Michigan State, which has been a success under coach Tom Izzo
![Emoni Bates blocks a shot during a fall league game](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/11/06/20/46132CD700000578-5053437-image-m-38_1510001931003.jpg)
![Bates pulls up for a jumper during a fall league game in Saline, Michigan](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/11/06/20/46132CF300000578-5053437-image-a-39_1510001940535.jpg)
(Left) Emoni Bates blocks a shot during a fall league game. (Right) Bates pulls up for a jumper
![Already six-foot-seven, Emoni Bates is working to add bulk to his growing frame](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/11/06/21/46132C4100000578-5053437-image-a-41_1510002300000.jpg)
Already six-foot-seven, Emoni Bates is working to add bulk to his growing frame
!['I like going up there a lot,' said Bates of visiting Michigan State's campus in East Lansing](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/11/06/21/46132BEC00000578-5053437-image-a-42_1510002332228.jpg)
‘I like going up there a lot,’ said Bates of visiting Michigan State’s campus in East Lansing
![Emoni Bates and classmate Kareem Rozier shake hands after a workout](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/11/06/21/46132EE500000578-5053437-image-a-61_1510003769558.jpg)
Emoni Bates and classmate Kareem Rozier shake hands after a workout
‘We haven’t offered anyone recently before ninth or 10th grade,’ Izzo added, ‘but there are some special guys out there.’
NCAA rules bar coaches from discussing potential recruits by name or contacting their families via phone calls, texts, email or even snail mail until they’ve completed their sophomore year of high school. But those same rules allow coaches to host what are considered unofficial visits by those same recruits – as long as the contact is initiated and the costs are picked up by the recruit’s family.
That explains why Bates and teammate Javaughn Hannah were the only two people shooting hoops at Michigan State’s basketball arena just hours before the arena was open to the public and packed with fans flocking to the second-ranked Spartans’ annual Midnight Madness event.
‘I like going up there a lot,’ said Bates, who has struck up a friendship with Michigan State sophomore star Miles Bridges. ‘I like working out with (Bridges) and being around him.’
![](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/11/06/21/461526AD00000578-5053437-image-m-48_1510002430717.jpg)
![At 10, LeBron James Jr. was already drawing interest from college recruits. 'Let him be a kid,' James Sr. said when asked about the situation](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/11/06/21/4615235200000578-5053437-image-m-50_1510002443594.jpg)
LeBron James (left) with 12-year-old son LeBron Jr., who has also received scholarship offers. At 10 (right), LeBron Jr. was already drawing interest from college recruits
![E.J. Bates holds his son Emoni back after an argument against a Howell High School player during a fall league basketball game in Saline, Michigan](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1/2017/11/06/07/wire-1668442-1509953400-235_634x448.jpg)
E.J. Bates holds his son Emoni back after an argument against a Howell High School player during a fall league basketball game in Saline, Michigan
![Emoni Bates argues with a player from Howell High School during a fall league basketball game in Saline, Michigan. The 13-year-old, six-foot-seven basketball player pushed a high school varsity opponent toward the bleachers during a night game, showing a different side to the usual personality of one of the most coveted young players in hoops](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1/2017/11/06/07/wire-1668444-1509953402-956_634x426.jpg)
Emoni Bates argues with a player from Howell High School during a fall league basketball game in Saline, Michigan. The 13-year-old, six-foot-seven basketball player pushed a high school varsity opponent toward the bleachers during a night game, showing a different side to the usual personality of one of the most coveted young players in hoops
Bates and Hannah were joined on the visit by some of their eighth-grade teammates and their fathers, all part of the Bates Fundamental squad coached by E.J. Bates. A former professional basketball player in Europe, E.J. Bates is carefully weighing his son’s options, including ‘reclassifying’ – effectively skipping a year of high school as freshman Marvin Bagley did to play for No. 1 Duke this season.
Amari Bailey of Chicago and California’s Skyy Clark, two of the other top-ranked eighth-graders in the country, already responded to DePaul’s scholarship offer with verbal commitments.
‘I know I’m young but what I want is what I want,’ Clark wrote in an October post on Instagram.
![Michigan State coach Tom Izzo: 'Some believe you should offer as soon as the kid comes out of the womb because the first offer gets the kid. I think that hurts the kid'](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/11/06/21/45FDCFC800000578-5053437-image-a-52_1510002628429.jpg)
Michigan State coach Tom Izzo: ‘Some believe you should offer as soon as the kid comes out of the womb because the first offer gets the kid. I think that hurts the kid’
Emoni Bates, who doesn’t even know where he’s going to high school next year, isn’t ready to look that far ahead.
‘I was excited because it was my first offer,’ he said, ‘but there’s plenty more to come.’
That’s what worries Izzo, a Hall of Fame coach with a national championship and seven Final Four appearances on his resume.
‘Some believe you should offer as soon as the kid comes out of the womb because the first offer gets the kid. I think that hurts the kid,’ Izzo said. ‘Some people don’t think you should offer until they’re sophomores. If a kid is that dumb that he’s not reading the internet and realizes that some of those coaches that offer early have offered 50 guys. That offer doesn’t mean as much.’
But the relationships kids forge while going through the process can make all the difference.
Bates has grown close to Bridges on and off the court and has even posed for pictures in Michigan State’s green jersey and shorts. There’s a framed photo of the two of them in Bates’ bedroom.
You’d think that kind of head start would bother rivals.
But Michigan coach John Beilein, whose program is headquartered 10 miles west of where the Bates live, doesn’t sound worried. He refuses to recruit any prospect until he’s in ninth grade.
‘You see them in a high school setting and that’s when we start inviting them for unofficial visits,’ Beilein told The AP. ‘There’s a lot of time. If you’re going to start offering scholarships to seventh and eighth graders, there are so many unknowns both ways. Who’s going to be where in six years? It makes great media, right?
‘I’m sure it’s a novel idea,’ he added. ‘But does it really make sense?’
In Bates’ case, only time will tell.
![Bates works out in a weight room in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Off the court, Bates is a low-key honor roll student who enjoys hanging out with his cousins and his grandmother](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1/2017/11/06/07/wire-1668446-1509953405-588_634x464.jpg)
Bates works out in a weight room in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Off the court, Bates is a low-key honor roll student who enjoys hanging out with his cousins and his grandmother
![Bates is one of three members of the class of 2022 to receive scholarship offers from DePaul](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1/2017/11/06/07/wire-1668448-1509953408-802_634x408.jpg)
Bates is one of three members of the class of 2022 to receive scholarship offers from DePaul
![Edith Bates prepares dinner for her son Emoni at home in Ypsilanti, Michigan](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1/2017/11/06/07/wire-1668450-1509953410-282_634x422.jpg)
Edith Bates prepares dinner for her son Emoni at home in Ypsilanti, Michigan
![Emoni Bates kisses his mother Edith at home in Ypsilanti, Michigan](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/11/06/21/46102B2600000578-5053437-image-a-53_1510003199800.jpg)
Emoni Bates kisses his mother Edith at home in Ypsilanti, Michigan