Teammates cracked jokes about his situation, good-naturedly calling him “Big Time.” Scouts lined up with their radar guns and note pads, drawing conclusions on his future.
Through it all, Brett Cecil shrugged it off. He laughed at his teammates; he ignored the scouts’ presence during games.
Not that he never paid attention to what was happening.
“Teammates won’t let you forget about it even if you try to,” he said. “I’m definitely thinking about it and I’m anxious to see what happens. I talk about it with my parents and people I know well. I don’t like talking about it to anyone else I don’t know well. I like to stay quiet about it and talk about something different.”
But his main focus was on his velocity; early-season struggles stemmed more from mechanical flaws he corrected. And because his speed stayed consistent, Cecil knew his draft status would as well. He’s projected to possibly go between the 15th and 25th overall picks.
Though scouts attended most, if not all, of his outings, he never met with them during the season. All of those meetings occurred in the fall or after Maryland’s season ended. In all, he said he probably met with scouts from nine or 10 teams this past fall.
And he barely paid them much attention when they did attend games.
“You can tell who they are,” he said. “They carry a certain posture with them. … But it didn’t bother me at all. I was so focused on the game.”
A dream that began after his sophomore season in high school, when he reached 91 mph in an American Legion game, is about to be realized.
“He’s handled it well,” said his father, Duane. “He still works hard — he works harder now because he knows his potential. … This is just real exciting and we can’t wait until it’s over.”
