College Commits Share Secrets of Their Success

Ohio State, UVA, William & Mary, Morgan State. These are all the future homes for The St. James Academy's inaugural graduating class. I was able to get some insights and secrets into how these athletes got to this point. At the end of the day, it comes down to putting in the work, trusting the process, and maximizing the resources around you — because when you take advantage of everything The St. James Performance Academy offers a Student-Athlete, the results follow. 

“When you have big goals and aspire to do big things, the work comes with it. Being at The St. James, everything is laid out for you”. That is what Women's basketball player Denver Carlton told me when looking back at her experience at The St. James Academy. She wants to do big things in the basketball world, and that is why she decided to transfer from Spire Academy in Ohio back home to compete for Coach Tamika Dudley’s inaugural Girls Baseball program at The Academy.

There are great opportunities that come with joining The St. James Academy, but after talking to Lyla Coogan, Denver Carlton and her sister Dru Carlton, they made it clear that you need to put in the work. As Dru put it, “You have to love your sport to be here”. These girls do, and that is why they trusted the process and made the bold decision to enroll at The Academy .

For these girls, finding a pathway to competing at the collegiate level, while also pursuing strong academic opportunities — has been a major priority.  All three have now found homes, with Lyla Coogen committed to UVA, Denver Carlton committed to William & Mary and Dru Carlton committed to Morgan State.

Each athlete’s journey looked different and came with its own unique circumstances and priorities. At one point, Lyla Coogen was committed to Richmond, but when her coach accepted the head coaching position at UVA, the recruiting landscape quickly shifted. While the change initially brought uncertainty and stress, The St. James Academy helped Lyla navigate the process and explore multiple opportunities. In the end, she chose to continue her journey at UVA alongside the coach who had believed in her from the beginning. 

Dru Carlton had different desires than Coogen, but she also found a perfect fit. She told me she wanted to play for a black female coach and that going to an HBCU was important to her. That is what drew her to Morgan State, where she will be playing.

Denver Carlton was in a somewhat similar position to Coogen. She was committed to Fordham, but her coach got fired. After exploring her options, she decided to go to William & Mary because she liked the development plan they had for her. Carlton credited The St. James Performance Academy Coach Antoni Brown and Coach Cortez Quarles for helping her through that process.

Coach Anthoni, as the girls called him, is a favorite of theirs. Denver Carlton told me that, “I don’t remember a time where Coach Anthoni told me no when it came to a lift or a workout”.  Lyla Coogen said that Coach Anthoni is in the gym as early as 6 AM, and is always there for them.

The coaching staff is what makes the academy special, and helps these talented girls play a team oriented style of basketball. All the work they put in brings the team together. Lyla Coogen recalls a practice where the girls just ran the whole time. She saw that as a moment that bonded the team. Having that team culture with everyone preparing for college can be a rare thing, but The St. James Academy pulls it off.

Head Coach Tamika Dudley plays a big role in this as well. The girls gushed about Dudley’s ability to connect them with college coaches. Dru Carlton said, “Just having the platform of being at The St. James gives you access to a lot of college coaches”. They mentioned that Dudley is a phone call away from a minimum of 50-60 college coaches - many of which came to watch Academy training sessions this school year.

Dudley is a big reason why these girls came to the Academy. All three girls played for Dudley on the Durant travel team. The culture they built there has translated to the Academy. As Lyla Coogen put it, “All the coaches and Academic Success Educators want what is best for you and are willing to go the extra mile”.

The Women’s basketball team is not the only place where this is happening. Track star David Nnabuko was able to go run at his dream school, The Ohio State University after a year at the Academy. Nnabuko told me that Ohio State had been his dream school ever since he was a kid. Once he got an offer to go there, the decision was not hard.

While Ohio State was a childhood dream, what drew him to The St. James Performance Academy were the coaches. He credited Coach Corey and Coach Mo for helping his development tremendously. One thing he said he has been working on at the Academy is getting out of the block faster.

The resources and coaching at The St. James Academy helps him do this. As he put it, The St. James Academy, “lets us focus on our academics and athletics”. Finding that balance is a good way to prepare for college, where being a student athlete is the expectation.

While track is an individual sport, the group was still able to find that team culture like the basketball team did. Nnabuko noted that the whole team cheers each other on, even during tough practice days where it is tough. The ability to focus on the team and the individual is what makes The St. James Academy special. You can see that through the journeys of David Nnabuko, Dru Carlton, Denver Carlton and Lyla Coogen.