Coral Glades High senior makes school history as first Division I men's college basketball signee
The Coral Glades High School Jaguars are gearing up for a big year led by senior Kyler Theophile, who's already etched his name into the school's history books before the season tips off.
"When I started playing rec ball, I knew I loved it," Theophile told CBS News Miami's Jaelen Gilkey.
"He'll be nationally known by the end of this year," said Coral Glades Coach Stefan Whittingham. "He's a great kid, great personality, [and] coachable. He's going to help any program's culture just because of how great a kid and how great a person he is."
Theophile is a lanky 6-foot-5-inch senior for the Coral Glades Jaguars, who has a smile that lights up every room he's in and a jump shot that lights up the defense. So, as his junior season concluded and he prepped for his last summer of AAU basketball, Theophile had no college scholarship offers, and he was a bit unsure what his future looked like with the game he loves.
"Back in April, I was kind of overthinking. Sometimes I was thinking to myself, am I really built for this?" he said.
So, Whittingham sat down with Theophile to talk about his goals and put them on paper.
"He took it to heart," Whittingham said. "He made it his lock screen, he looked at it every day for three to five months and walked every day and I think that's what propelled him upwards."
And all that work paid off just in time.
"They just started to roll in the Sunday after the event in Georgia: I hit a game winner, and next week I got an offer every day for a whole week," Theophile said. "I was just out there hooping, and from it's just been success and I thank God for that."
He recently committed to play his college ball at Kennesaw State and made a bit of history in the process.
"He's the first Division I signee in the boys basketball program and also my first Division I true signee," Whittingham said.
"I was super happy," Theophile said. "It just makes me want to work even harder, it's just unreal."