Flint (Mich.) Beecher has a powerhouse basketball program under Mike Williams.
He has won five state championships in Michigan at the school. It's a school and certainly an area that doesn't have the resources you would find at a lot of other places. But Williams prides himself on the fact that he has helped build a certain kind of culture.
Williams sounds quite a bit like John Calipari when he talks about building "player-led teams". And Earnest Sanders, one of Kentucky's latest football commitments who also plays basketball for Williams' Beecher team, sounds like just the kind of player Calipari loves to rave about.
"Earnest has never asked me about his stats or how many points he scored in a game," Williams said. "He just wants to win a championship. You get a kid like that, he starts to have an effect on all the other players on the team.
"If John Calipari doesn't put him on his team as a walk on, he's crazy. If you can put him on your bench and it doesn't cost you a scholarship, you're crazy if you don't do it," he said.
Williams has asked Sanders if he might try to play college basketball at Kentucky, in addition to football. That happens some places but Kentucky's coaches on both the hardwood and gridiron have moved away from that.
When asked about the possibility, Sanders told Williams, "Coach, they have five stars."
"I told him, 'Earnest, you're a five star.'"
And he means it.
Williams was at the recent NBPA Top 100 basketball event in Virginia and said he believes Sanders would have "dominated" on the court if he had attended that event. His athleticism, leaping ability, competitive edge and sports IQ are the qualities that have helped him lead Beecher to records of 25-6, 17-9 and 24-3 over the past three seasons.
Sanders didn't crack the starting lineup at the prep powerhouse until his sophomore season, because as a freshman that team returned several starters from a dominant squad. But since then he has been a mainstay, contributing as a scorer, rebounder and lockdown defender who has matured on and off the field of competition.
"He packs the stands for basketball," Williams said. "When I met him I asked him if he was right handed or left handed. I'll watch him handle the ball with his right hand and shoot with his left. I asked him, 'What's your dominant hand? Do you even know?' For a while we didn't even know. He's just a unique, special talent. Really a humble kid, because he comes from a humble place."
On the football field, Sanders' film stands out. He is explosive, can high point the ball and plays as hard as anyone on the field.
Williams has known Sanders since he was a child. His oldest son's mother was Sanders' third grade teacher.
In Flint, Mich., there are a lot of talented athletes. But there's a lot working against young people in the area. Many fall through the cracks.
Sanders is a success story in one of America's most heartbreaking cities.
"When Earnest was very young I knew I would have the chance to coach a very talented kid who might be coming our way, but I knew he was somebody you needed to take care of and groom as if he was your own kid," Williams said.
Williams said Sanders is a fiercely protective older brother to a number of younger siblings. In a place like Flint, those protective instincts exist for good reason.
"He's the kind of person who would give you the shirt off his back," Williams said.
But it has been a long journey, one that Williams has been a part of.
"Earnest and I formed a bond when he was going into the ninth grade," Williams said. "We spent a week together at a camp and I really got to know what made him tick. On the first day of the camp he kind of had a hard time with some of the other coaches. We sat down and talked and I said, 'You've got about 60 months before you're out of high school. The countdown is going to start. You have to make sure you're doing everything you've got to do in order to be successful.
And Sanders has turned out to be successful.
"With that being said," Williams continued, "he's still a kid. A lot of times you look at the kid and see that physically he's a grown man. He's got a grown man body. But he's still a kid."
So what made Williams connect with Sanders in a way that some of those other coaches didn't?
"When you're coaching kids, especially where we're at, I believe diamonds are shaped in the rough," Williams said. "We don't have all the resources everybody else has, so part of me getting to know Earnest was making sure all his needs were met. Just making sure, 'Hey man, have you eaten today? Have you taken care of yourself today?' Making sure he knows how important those little things are. He didn't really understand that. That you have to eat or your body is going to break down."
The more Sanders matured, the tougher he became.
"You can't make that kid flinch," Williams said, using a buzzword Mark Stoops would appreciate.
In Flint, part of the motivation for athletes who eventually succeed is the ability to create a better situation. Accepting the reality that the system isn't working for you is a necessary part of the path to that success. But from there, only some have a chip on the shoulder that pushes them to break through those barriers.
Sanders has that chip on his shoulders, Williams said. But he also has a couple of other things: Natural ability and bloodlines.
The ability shows up on tape.
The bloodlines?
Earnest Sanders Sr. is a good place to start. The father of Kentucky's new football commitment played free safety for the Michigan Wolverines between 1993 and 1996.
"Andre Weathers played on that Michigan national championship team as the corner opposite Charles Woodson," Williams said. "He told me when he got to Michigan, (Sanders' father) was probably 6'4, 185 pounds. He said he was so good that he didn't even know the coverages yet but they had to have him on the field. The defensive backs coach told the other safety, 'You'd better make sure he lines up right.' His first game I think he had like 17 or 18 tackles.
"And when he hit people, it didn't sound like when other people hit people. It sounded like a different kind of collision. He comes from great stock."
Williams said Sanders' father is very involved in his life, loves his son and would do anything for him. He's also the kind of father who will step back and won't get in the way of a decision nor will he be a distraction to the coaches who will assume responsibility for Sanders when he's in Lexington.
"Just a guy who really loves his kid," Williams said.
There are some in the area who insist that Sanders' grandfather was an even better athlete than his father.
So those bloodlines are real.
There were some who believed Sanders might end up at Michigan State. In fact, the only two Rivals Forecast predictions on Sanders' profile were for the Spartans before he took his official visit to Kentucky this past weekend.
There was a reason for that. Michigan State was interested and had offered and one of his best friends is Jalen Terry, the No. 41 player and a four-star prospect in the Rivals150. He is committed to play for Tom Izzo at Michigan State and he plays on that Beecher basketball team with Sanders.
"When Jalen decided to go to Michigan State that's when I kind of said (Earnest) might be leaning to them," Williams said. "But Earnest was always a big Michigan fan, because that's where his dad went."
When Sanders officially visited Kentucky, he became sold on what the Wildcats were telling him.
"When I talk to Earnest about why he made his decision one of the things he said was it felt like family," Williams said. "My mother's side of the family is actually from Louisville, Kentucky, so I automatically knew what he was talking about just because I knew the area, and I visited Kentucky with Jalen Terry. I've seen how nice it is. But it was because he said it felt like family.
"That's important to him. If you talk to Earnest, you can tell he's very easy to talk to. You can tell that when you talk to him he's very dialed into what you have to say. I'm very happy for him and I'm happy he feels that Kentucky is home for him. I think he's going to do great things in the SEC and I think he will probably be playing on Sundays. He's that kind of talent and has that kind of edge.
"I could never teach the kind of talent he has. I've just focused on him being a better person, on him academically and making sure all his needs are met," Williams said. "He's thrived under (football) coach (Candace) Hawkins and myself. Coach Hawkins played nine years in the NFL and played for Michigan State. He didn't have the physical skills that Earnest had but he told me, 'Mike, the kid is special. He's very special. He's going to play on Sunday."
Williams said Sanders has given him everything he's been able to give over these last three years of high school.
He just wants one thing from him.
"All I want is for him to give me one more state championship," Williams said.
