Today we honor our underclass players of the year Marcus Spears Jr. (Juniors), A.J. Williams (Sophomores) and J.J. Crawford (Freshmen) along with National Coach of the Year Steve Turner of FAB 50 power Montverde Academy (Montverde, Fla.). These players along with 2025-25 Mr. Basketball USA Jordan Smith Jr. will headline the 32nd Annual Elite All-American Team.
2025-26 Mr. Basketball USA: Jordan Smith Jr., Paul VI (Chantilly, Va.) 6-2 G
Although Paul VI lost plenty of firepower to graduation, Smith stepped up his game and kept the Panthers in the FAB 50 title hunt all season. Against a national schedule, the Arkansas-bound Smith was clutch when needed most. As a junior, he went for a game-high 29 points as Paul VI downed Gonzaga in the WCAC title game, 58-54, and in this year’s game was even better. Smith had 39 points, seven assists and seven steals to help his team erase a 16-point deficit vs. St. John’s (Washington, D.C.) to record a 82-76 double OT victory. In the McDonald's All-American Game, Smith had 12 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals. He also had a 13-point, 5-rebound performance for Team USA in the Nike Hoop Summit.
His finished as a three-time All-Met choice and was chosen fourth five on the All-American Elite Team as a junior. Smith obviously will be on the first five for 2025-26 and will enter college with a multitude of national honors. Smith was also named national player of the year by Maxpreps, Gatorade and Jersey Mike's Naismith. (Last year's Mr. Basketball USA honoree, Cameron Boozer of Duke, was named Jersey Mike's Naismith National College Player of the Year). The two-time All-American is the fifth Mr. Basketball USA honoree from a Virginia program, following Moses Malone (1974), J.R. Reid (1986), Alonzo Mourning (1988) and Brandon Jennings (2008). To view the full Mr. Basketball USA release, the Mr. Basketball Tracker voting results, and comments about Smith, CLICK HERE.
For all-time Mr. Basketball USA honorees dating back to 1954-55, CLICK HERE
2026 National Junior of the Year: Marcus Spears Jr., Dynamic Prep (Dallas, Texas) 6-9 F
The son of professional athletes, including his father who was the Grid-Hoop National Player of the Year in 2000-01 at Southern Lab (Baton Rouge, La.), Spears takes home top honors among 2027 players after coming off the bench in 2024-25 for a club that advanced to the Chipotle Nationals title game. This season, Spears used his impressive two-way ability to lead Dynamic Prep to a 16-1 regular season mark and another trip to Chipotle Nationals. At this year's event, Spears went for 29 points and eight rebounds in a quarterfinal win over Link Academy (Branson, Mo.) before Dynamic Prep saw its season come to an end in a semifinal loss to eventual FAB 50 champ CIA Bella Vista of Arizona. In that game, Spears finished with 16 points, 10 rebounds and two steals.
For the season, Spears used his motor, length, and athleticism to average 15.1 ppg, 7.6 rpg, 2.2 apg and 2.4 bpg and is considered among the best defensive forwards in the country, regardless of class. Spears also had the opportunity to further hone his skills when Dynamic Prep played additional games in the OTE League, which is not sanctioned high school basketball and plays with rules more similar to a pro league using high school aged players. In 18 regular season OTE games, Spears averaged 19.8 ppg, 8.4 rpg, 1.6 spg and 1.5 bpg.
Spears is the first honoree in the junior class from Texas since Tre Johnson of Lake Highlands (Dallas, Texas) in 2023. Johnson finished his high school career at Link Academy in Missouri and currently plays for the NBA's Washington Wizards. The only other honoree from Texas among juniors is the legendary David Lattin of Worthing (Houston, Texas), a school that was then part of the Prairie View Interscholastic League for African-American schools.
For a feature story on Spears, CLICK HERE. For all-time Junior Player of the Year honorees dating back to 1954-55, CLICK HERE
2026 National Sophomore of the Year: A.J. Williams, Eagle's Landing Christian Academy (McDonough, Ga.) 6-7 SF
After earning top honors among freshmen last season at Dutchtown (Hampton, Ga.), Williams was even more spectacular at his new school. In fact, he is already considered one of the best all-around players in high school basketball. After leading the Georgia Stars travel club to the Nike Peach Jam 15U title last summer, Williams recently made headlines when he switched teams. Williams now plays travel ball for Team CP3 on the Nike EYBL 17U circuit while Blue Bloods heavily recruit him.
Williams adds top honors among tenth-graders after posting norms of 31.8 ppg, 12.7 rpg and 2.8 apg, as Eagle's Landing made it to the second round of the GHSA Class AAAA tournament. Because of his blinding talent, Williams was not just all-state; he was named first five All-Georgia by sandysspiel.com. Along with senior Harris Reynolds of St. Pius X (Atlanta, Ga.), Williams was considered one of the two best players in the state among AAAA programs.
After becoming the first ever freshman choice from the Peach State last year, Williams is the third ever sophomore selection from Georgia. The last tenth-grader from the state to be honored was jumping jack Darrin Hancock of Griffin in 1988. The first ever was the legendary Stan Rome of Valdosta for 1972. Just as it was last season, Williams' stiffest individual competition was guard Adan Diggs of Millennium (Goodyear, Ariz.), who is also considered one of the best players in the country regardless of class.
For all-time Sophomore Player of the Year honorees dating back to 1967-68, CLICK HERE
2026 National Freshman of the Year: J.J. Crawford, Rainier Beach (Seattle, Wash.) 6-5 G
Similar to the 2028 class, the freshman class has some outstanding prospects that will be great players down the line, while a selected few stood out as terrific high school talents this past season. Only a handful were talented enough to earn statewide honors and rate among the best prospect in their respective national class. The player that best foot the bill on that criteria this season was the son of Jamal Crawford, who was a third five selection at Rainier Beach on the 1998-99 All-American Elite Team and went on to become one of the best sixth man and electric scorers in NBA history.
The quickly-growing Crawford has many of the same instincts with the ball as his father, but is probably more bouncy and a better outside shooter at the same stage. Not only does his talent level stand out, but being the second best player on a FAB 50 ranked team also is a differentiator. Teaming up with All-American and Kansas recruit Tyran Stokes (last season's National Junior of the Year) to lead Rainier Beach to a 29-1 mark and No. 21 FAB 50 rankings. Crawford averaged 19.1 ppg, 4.0 apg and 3.0 rpg for a club that captured its second consecutive Class 3A state title.
For his efforts, Crawford was a second team All-State choice by the Tacoma News-Tribune. He is the second ever selection among freshmen from Washington, joining 2008 choice Tony Wroten Jr. of Garfield (Seattle, Wash.).
For all-time Freshman Player of the Year honorees dating back to 1967-68, CLICK HERE
2026 National Coach of the Year: Steve Turner, Montverde Academy (Montverde, Fla.)
Last year's honoree among coaches, Glenn Farello of Paul VI in Virginia, knows a thing or two about this year's choice. Turner previously had a successful stint at Gonzaga (Washington, D.C.), where he compiled a 497-176 record competing in the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference (WCAC), the nation’s strongest traditional league. He took over at Montverde Academy for Kevin Boyle, the 2009 selection at St. Patrick (Elizabeth, N.J.), who later moved on Montverde Academy and led that program to seven FAB 50 titles between 2012 and 2025.
Moving from the WCAC to the EYBL Scholastic League (the top academy league in the country) after Boyle left for Spire Academy in Ohio, the expectations for Turner in his first season were a bit tempered. The Eagles had a talented roster and opened up No. 13 in the FAB 50. The team actually fell out of the rankings after starting the season 0-3. Things didn't look rosy after Turner's club lost a key cog around Thanksgiving and after two leading players, big man Lincoln Cosby and big guard Jayden Hodge, were lost early in the season to injury. Turner didn't sulk or make excuses and got to work with the available roster.
Montverde Academy started turning things around after upsetting preseason FAB 50 No. 1 Prolific Prep of Florida in the City of Palms Signature Series championship. MVA went on to capture the EYBL Scholastic East Division title with a perfect 9-0 division record. Overall in the ultra-competitive league, MVA went 11-3, but 11-1 after December 6. Winning that division title and competing admirably in the conference tournament and at Chipotle Nationals basically sealed Turner's resume for top coaching honors this season.
Without much of a bench by the time conference play heated up in January, players such as senior guard Dhani Miller and junior guard O’Neal Delancey stepped up to the point where the Eagles were good enough to play eventual FAB 50 national champ CIA Bella Vista of Arizona within four points. Montverde Academy lost to that club in the conference tournament quarterfinals and in the Chipotle Nationals title game, 69-65, after defeating Prolific Prep in the quarterfinals and preseason No. 5 AZ Compass Prep of Arizona in two overtimes in the semifinals. During the course of compiling his 500th career coaching win, Turner led a group than was unranked by the first regular season rankings to one that finished 23-7 and ranked No. 2 in the final FAB 50.
Turner is only the second coaching honoree from a Florida program dating back to the 1969-70 season. The other came in 2015, when Melvin Randall led Ely (Pompano Beach, Fla.) to a 28-1 mark. The last time a coach was honored from a program that now competes in the EYBL Scholastic League, or for one that doesn't compete for a traditional state title, was back in 1993. The honoree for that 1992-93 season was Steve Smith, who coached arguably his finest team at Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.).
For all-time National Coach of the Year honorees dating back to 1969-70, CLICK HERE
Ronnie Flores is the national Grassroots editor of Ballislife.com. He can be reached at [email protected]. Don't forget to follow him on Twitter: @RonMFlores
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