Clarendon College coach Isaac Amedee likes the fit of Nyiwe at TTU

When Esahia "Zaye" Nyiwe committed to Texas Tech over the weekend there was so much unknown about the promising 6-foot-10 prospect. He had limited game tape, only two publicly reported offers from Texas Tech and Wichita State, and this commitment kind of came of the blue.

So at RedRaiderSports we reached out to his college head coach, Isaac Fontenot-Amedee, to get the full low down on the newest Red Raider.

"Yeah, typically we just call him Zaye but it's pronounced just like 'Isaiah', just spelled different. And his last name is pronounced 'Ny-we'."

"You know, he's a kid that just blossomed late. Huge, huge potential, he can be a really high level player. If you guys have a chance to watch any of his highlights you'll see that.

For us, we played 5-out and he's skilled enough as far as handling the basketball to beat not just bigger guys off the bounce but guards too. He's got a very slick handle and he can get to different spots on the floor and you add to that his speed and his athleticism and his motor, he's just got huge potential. He can do a little bit of everything. His jumper is something that he works on consistently and it got better as the year went on. His free throw percentage jumped because he lives in the gym and he made shots when we needed him to make shots. He just works his butt off, and I think he fits in very well with what coach Beard wants to do because he's very intelligent and his work ethic is just off the charts.

He can play and have him read screens, he's a very intelligent young man. He's not your typical big guy that's kind of a stiff, you know? I think that's the vision with him, to have that versatility in the front court and a guy that can do a few different things. He can make decisions from the perimeter, he can shoot it, and he can really back it.

He can play really fast, honestly we had one of the best teams in Junior College this year and he was by far our fastest player. End to end speed, the way he can move for somebody with his length and that size it's really kinda crazy. He's extremely athletic."

"Yup, and I think something people don't really think about is there are levels and leagues in Junior College too, and sometimes it's about finding the right fit. People think 'oh, he's going to Junior College' but really it's not all the same. It's like basketball at any level, you have to go where you fit in, where there's a role for you and you kinda fit a hole for what they want to do.

For us, we were knocking at the door the last few years from having a really good team, we lost a few close games in 2018 and 2019 and I really just hoped and prayed that we could get Esahia.

We kinda knew the people he was close with and that he was transferring and I didn't really care what his numbers said because I knew what he could do. And the people that were connected to him, Rob Johnson is his prep school coach and Koang Doluony is his AAU coach from back in Omaha, they were the guys that were running his show and were trying to find him a good spot. The numbers didn't speak to what he could have been because he didn't fit how they wanted to play at Iowa Western. They wanted to play with a traditional post and stuck him in the block and he didn't really fit there but with us we were always gonna play really open.

So as the year went on he really got more comfortable out there on the perimeter and as the game slowed down for him just upstairs, just thinking and getting comfortable, he started to make more and more plays. I think if you started to watch games late in the year you could really see him dominate. It would have been fun to see what he could have done at the NJCAA National Tournament because he was playing at a high level. I think everybody is sad that the season ended, just kinda those what-if deals but he was playing at a really high level."

"That's the thing about recruiting, it's become fluid and it's hard to keep up with who offered at what time of the year. It's easier to say what schools were actively recruiting him but he had an offer from Tulsa and they were recruiting him hard, North Texas tried really hard to get him there, Temple was recruiting him, VCU called to offer once Texas Tech offered. There were a lot of schools that tried to get in after Texas Tech offered just because how great of a job coach Beard does over there."

"Yeah so before Clarendon I was at Hill College and when I was there in 2014/15 we had a really good run and in 2015 we had an All-American guard named Marcus Johnson. Marcus really could have gone anywhere he wanted to, he was MVP of our region, first team All-American, all that good stuff. I had known coach Adams but I didn't know Brian Burg or Chris Beard, I didn't know them at all. My boss at the time at Hill knew coach Beard and Marcus Johnson's high school coach knew Brian Burg really well.

I was a believer in coach Adams, I think coach Adams is one of the best basketball coaches in the country period at any level. I call him and get advice all the time. So anyways we're talking about a kid who turned down high level offers to go play for coach Beard at Little Rock. It was crazy because at the time people were questioning Marcus and saying how could you do that? Well we were all comfortable with it, we loved the staff and we thought it was going to be great for Marcus. Well then they go and beat Purdue in the NCAA tournament his first year there. Those guys were unbelievable for Marcus and they actually wanted to bring him to Tech but he wanted to stay at Little Rock and finish and so he did that.

Coach Adams and I since then we've stayed in touch, I've also stayed in touch with coach Beard and he's always been really good to me. He'll always take a call and talk with me but coach Adams and I we talk, honestly a couple times a month. What he did in Junior College and the level that he was able to coach with, starting from where he started from, I just have so much respect. He's a mentor for me.

When coach Adams called and he asked me a bunch of questions about Zaye, I was like 'coach, you're asking a lot of questions about Esahia what's going on?' and I got the whole story, they put some stuff in front of coach Beard and they wanted to recruit him. It was weird, the whole process was kinda weird because I didn't know too much about their roster up front until they explained things but they knew everything about Esahia, they had watched all his games. Coach Beard had seen every game. He knew every detail, like this part of the year he struggled with this, this part of the year he got better here, these are his strengths and weaknesses, this is the role we envision for him, we see him like a Tariq Owens. They just hit it out of the park, as soon as I heard them talk about the scenario, it would be hard for anybody to have a better set up than this.

Then you look at guys we all feel comfortable with, that we can trust. What they did with Marcus was incredible. He had great career there, they were unbelievable. Once you have a guy go with coaches and they treat him well, that's when you really get to know them. You can talk with guys and they'll recruit your kid but when they go there and you hear first hand, hey this is how they are, it kinda changes things.

I'm excited for Esahia. He's got a bright future, I think he can help a lot, I just think he's got to get up there and go to work when this virus stuff goes away. He's an unbelievable kid, Esahia is a great person. He's a date your daughter type of kid and seriously, through all the years I've been in Junior College he's one of the best human beings I've had the pleasure of being around.

You guys are gonna love having him around, he's a good kid. Great person."