MELHS' Teddy Fifer signs with Southwestern Illinois College
EDWARDSVILLE – Teddy Fifer's time at Metro East Lutheran helped him blossom into a very prolific scorer for the Knights. Fifer 19.5 points a game for the Knights last season, leading MEL to the IHSA Class 1A Bunker Hill Regional final, where the Knights were eliminated by Waterloo Gibault to cap off a 25-6 season.
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Fifer will get the opportunity to improve his game further in college, and he'll be doing it under the tutelage of one of the top junior-college coaches around as he signed a letter of intent to enroll next fall at Southwestern Illinois College in Belleville, who are coached by Jay Harrington, who has been at the helm of the Blue Storm program for 40-plus years.
The process of choosing a school wasn't an easy one, Fifer admitted. “It was stressful,” Fifer said of deciding which school he would attend. “Everyone was asking me where I was going to go and where I was going to play; SWIC seemed like the best place for me to go. It was close to home and my family can come and watch me play anytime.”
Fifer's offensive numbers were unquestioned, but he also averaged 1.9 rebounds a game for the Knights, as well as 1.41 assists and 1.05 steals a game. Yet Fifer admits there are things he needs to work on, which he will have the opportunity to do at SWIC.
“That was a huge step,” moving to the college level, Fifer said. “I need to get bigger at the next level it's a whole another pace, different from high school pace. This is the best fit for me to go to a (junior college) and improve on those things so I can go to the next level.”
Fifer will bring quite a bit to the table for the Blue Storm next season, Harrington feels. “We really like his athleticism,” Harrington said, “his scoring ability, but we like as much his personality and his citizenship. We try to recruit really good kids and we feel like he fits the mold of what we're trying to bring in to our program.
“I think Teddy has the chance to be one of the better area players we've ever coached.”
Harrington does realize adjusting from high school to college is a big adjustment for even the most talented player. “It's much faster, much stronger; you have to play harder all the time,” Harrington said. “It's a big adjustment for all the kids.”
Like any new player, Fifer has some things he hopes to accomplish during his time at SWIC. “Really, just what (Harrington) needs me to do,” Fifer said, “get better individually and get better as a team and just improve in all my areas at basketball and off the court as well and move on to the next level.
Fifer plans to major in psychology at SWIC.
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