One of the fastest rising 2023 recruits in all the Midwest recently has been Darrion Baker. Over the past month, the division one offers have continued to roll in for the 6’8” forward of Hillcrest High School (IL) and Team Rose. While many players across the region have received offers over the past month, very few have at the rate Baker has. 

Baker received an offer in April from Radford and in the past month has built his total into the double digits. All in the past few weeks, Akron, Cal Poly, Cal State Fullerton, Illinois State, Indiana State, Missouri State, Northern Illinois, SIUE, Southern Indiana, Towson, UIC, Valparaiso, and Wofford have all offered the rising senior. Other schools to have shown interest include, Appalachian State, DePaul, Drake, Miami (OH), UMass, and others. 

So far, Baker has taken unofficial visits to both Northern Illinois and UIC. “They were fun, learned new things and got to see how different things are in college,” Baker said about the pair of visits. Adding in, “I liked watching both practices, got to steal some of their drills and tings to get me ready for college.” Plus, he has an official visit to Akron scheduled for later this month. 

“A versatile four man,” Baker said to describe his own game. “Loves to play hard and wants to win.” Baker is a high upside forward with plenty of tools and versatility for the next level. He has a good array of tools as a forward and can play strong around the paint in addition to being able to stretch the floor hitting outside jumpers.