Class of 2028 Athlete Lamarin Powell Is Playing Chess While Everyone Else Plays Checkers

The recruiting game changed, and most high school athletes still don't know it yet.

It's 2026, and college coaches aren't just showing up at gyms and Friday night lights anymore hoping to discover hidden talent. They're online, scrolling through recruiting platforms, clicking links, watching highlight reels at 2 a.m. while their coffee gets cold. If your name doesn't pop up in a search, if your highlights aren't packaged right, if your story isn't told the way it should be... you might as well be invisible.

Enter Lamarin Powell, a sophomore dual-sport athlete out of Elgin High School in Elgin, Illinois, who just became the second athlete to partner with Creative Eye Multimedia to build a legitimate digital recruiting presence. Not a Hudl account with three random clips. Not an Instagram page with inconsistent posts. A full website, lamarinpowell.com, built specifically to make sure when college recruiters type his name into Google, they find exactly what they need to see.

And he's doing this as a sophomore. While most kids in the Class of 2028 are still figuring out how to change their Twitter handle, Lamarin is setting up the infrastructure that'll matter when it's time to make a college decision.

The Dual-Sport Advantage in U46

Lamarin plays basketball as a guard and football as a running back for Elgin High School in the U46 Conference. That versatility is an asset on paper, but it creates a marketing problem most athletes don't think about until it's too late. How do you showcase two completely different skill sets to two completely different recruiting pipelines without confusing your story?

The credentials are already there. Lamarin earned All-Conference honors in football as a sophomore, an achievement that puts him on the radar of college programs evaluating Chicago-area talent early. But accolades only matter if coaches know where to find them. You build a hub. One place where basketball coaches searching for Illinois guards in the Class of 2028 can find court highlights, football coaches evaluating Chicago-area running backs can watch field tape, and both can see the kind of athlete they're evaluating: someone who understands competition, adapts to different systems, and brings that same work ethic regardless of the sport.

That's what lamarinpowell.com does. It's not flashy for the sake of being flashy. It's functional, clean, and built with one purpose: make it easy for coaches to evaluate him. Stats, highlights, achievements, and context all in one place. No hunting through seven different social media accounts trying to piece together who this kid actually is.

Why This Matters for Illinois Class of 2028 Recruits

The Class of 2028 is still three years away from signing day, which means Lamarin has time most athletes waste. By the time his peers start scrambling junior year to "get noticed," he'll already have a foundation. Recruiters who've been tracking him since sophomore year. A website that's been building SEO equity for Illinois basketball recruiting and Illinois football recruiting searches. A digital presence that shows he's been intentional about this process from the jump.

It's the difference between hoping coaches notice you and making sure they can't miss you.

This is where parents Marcia and Earl deserve credit too. They saw the landscape changing and made sure their son had the tools to compete in it. Because let's be real: recruiting is competitive as hell in the Chicago suburbs, and the athletes who treat it like a business early are the ones who end up with options when it matters.

The Blueprint for U46 Athletes

Here's what Lamarin's partnership with Creative Eye actually includes:

• A personal website that serves as his digital recruiting hub

• Professional presentation of highlights across both basketball and football

• Centralized platform for stats, achievements, and athletic timeline

• A domain that's his name (not some random recruiting service URL)

• Content strategy optimized for local and regional recruiting searches

• SEO optimization for Illinois high school recruiting searches

It's not about being extra. It's about being smart. When a Division I coach is evaluating 40 guards or 30 running backs in the Chicago area for their 2028 class, the athletes who make it easy to see their full story are the ones who stay top of mind. When they search "Class of 2028 basketball guard Illinois" or "Elgin High School football," Lamarin's name shows up with a complete profile ready to review.

What's Next for the Elgin Standout

Lamarin is Creative Eye's second athlete partnership, following Torey Baskin's successful launch earlier this year. The model is simple: build digital infrastructure for high school athletes in Illinois who understand that recruiting isn't just about talent anymore. It's about visibility, presentation, and controlling your narrative before someone else defines it for you.

For a sophomore with the work ethic and versatility Lamarin brings to both basketball and football in the U46 Conference, this partnership sets him up to capitalize on opportunities as they come. College coaches recruiting the Chicago suburbs will be watching. Now they'll know exactly where to look.

Visit lamarinpowell.com to see what happens when a young athlete from Elgin plays the long game.

Sleep if you want. The Class of 2028 is already building.

Is Your Athlete Ready to Be Found?

College recruiting doesn't wait for you to be ready. Coaches are searching right now for the next class, and if your athlete's name doesn't show up with the right information, someone else's will.

Creative Eye Multimedia builds digital recruiting platforms for high school athletes who understand that talent alone isn't enough anymore. We create professional websites that showcase stats, highlights, achievements, and athletic journey in one central hub so college coaches can evaluate your athlete without hunting through multiple platforms.

Whether your athlete plays one sport or three, whether they're a freshman just starting the journey or a junior entering their critical recruitment window, we help them control their narrative and maximize their visibility when it matters most.

Ready to build something that gets noticed?

Visit creativeeyestudios.com/athlete-recruiting to learn more about our athlete partnerships and how we help high school recruits stand out in a crowded field.