Arkansas-bound Powell led Miller to elusive title

When Marshawn Powell first arrived in at the Miller School in the spring of 2007, the rising junior was on a quest to become a better basketball player, but that wasn’t all. He also wanted to improve on his academics and fulfill his mother’s wish of graduating and going to college.

Fast forward to the present.

Powell, 19, is regarded as a top-75 national prospect — in the top 20 at his power forward position — and will be taking his skills to the University of Arkansas later this year. For his leadership and outstanding play this past season at Miller, Powell was named All-Central Virginia boys basketball player of the year by The Daily Progress sports staff.

“There are some really talented young men in Central Virginia and we are excited that Marshawn will receive this award,” said Powell’s coach at Miller, Fred Wawner. “Beyond his physical talents, Marshawn is a competitor. He would not let us lose. He is a very big reason to why we finished the year the way we did.”

After leaving his team as a freshman at Menchville High in Newport News, Powell’s confidence was admittedly at an all-time low, and one of his AAU coaches pointed him in the direction of Miller.

“My ninth grade year was one of the roughest years for me,” Powell said. “I wasn’t the main guy like I was on my AAU teams and all that, but it helped me in the long run to become a better player all-around. A good player motivates his team on and off the court, so that’s what I tried to focus on my first year at Miller.”

The 6-foot-7, 230-pounder admits that coming to Miller was one of the best decisions he ever made, and was aware upon arrival that the adjustment would be a process.

In his two years with coach Wawner and the Mavericks, Powell’s teams went a combined 51-7, including a stellar 26-3 senior season in 2008-09 that led to the school’s first-ever VIS Division II state title with a win over a tough Atlantic Shores Christian team. In his junior year, the Mavericks went 25-4 and fell short in the state final.

Marshawn averaged 21.8 points, eight rebounds, two assists, two steals, and almost two blocks a game this past season, leading the Mavericks in field-goal percentage (62 percent) and 3-point percentage (44 percent). He was named to the All-VIC Team for the second straight season, and also claimed VIS player of the year honors for the second year in a row.

In the process, he fine-tuned his skills on offense as well as defense, and was already being looked at by several Division I programs — including Virginia, Virginia Tech and Clemson — prior to his final season.

Wawner had a feeling that there was something special about Powell when the two first met a couple of years ago in their initial interview.

“I was impressed with his honesty and maturity,” Wawner said. “There was just something about him that made you want to work with him. The next evening, I got to see him play at UVa. Everything he did looked so easy, but he was also relentless. You can tell a lot about a kid by how hard they play.”

Powell said that his first impressions of Wawner were very positive. Even though they didn’t always see eye to eye, Wawner helped him out tremendously during their time together, both on and off the court. Wawner said Powell had a lot to overcome and the coach was eager to lend a helping hand.

“He was willing to trust early on in our relationship,” Wawner said. “This enabled us to have some very difficult conversations and set forth with a plan to have him reach his goals. There were times when it did not look like things were going to work out, but he never looked at the scoreboard, he just kept working. There is a lot to be learned from that.”

After a visit to Arkansas’ Elite camp last fall, he decided that Fayetteville was the best fit for his style of play. Arkansas head coach John Pelphrey is excited to have Powell provide a versatile presence, something that the Razorbacks could use following a 14-16 campaign.

Wawner feels that Powell is poised to make the difficult transition to college ball and believes he can make an immediate impact.

“He can step in and play right away,” Wawner said. “He has an uncanny ability to score from all over the floor. He is a bit undersized for a power forward at the highest level, but his skill set and hands are so good that I really believe he will find a way to contribute immediately.

“The other piece is his willingness to change and improve. This year was a prime example. We had two really good big men, so Marshawn played on the wing. This took a while to get used to, but he ended up leading the team in 3-point percentage. This will help him with matchups in the SEC.”

As it turns out, Powell will play alongside his cousin Stefan Walsh, another Newport News native, when he arrives in Arkansas. Walsh, a guard, played with Marvell at Warwick before transferring to Hargrave Military Academy. Powell admits that it will be great to have a familiar face in the locker room.

“It’s nice to go to a place where I have somebody already established down there, that will help me out a lot,” said Powell. “I think by [Walsh] being there, it’s a major advantage for me, rather than going somewhere else where I didn’t know anybody, and have to make relationships with different people and different players.”

Powell just received word on Thursday that the NCAA clearinghouse gave him the green light to attend Arkansas, and he explained how much of a relief it was to hear those words. His eventual goal is to play in the NBA, and the still rising star is well on his way.

“This past week has been one of the best weeks of my life to be honest,” he admitted. “I found out that I got cleared to play and go to school, and [being named player of the year] just tops it off. I couldn’t ask for much more.”