ESPN RISE

Robert Folk is not presently the best or most polished player on coach Clinton Crouch's Friendship Academy team. That distinction belongs to the Knight's star senior guard Brandon Young. Also, frankly, at this juncture Knight's two young forwards Joe Lundy and Kesse Bernard are further developed as players than Folk.

But the 250-pound Folk is an intriguing prospect and according to Crouch with time, hard work and more experience, Folk has a chance to be a pretty serious player.

"He has only been playing basketball for a couple of years, so he is very inexperienced in terms of organized ball and is really raw on offense. Defensively, he is already coming on. Robert can block shots, rebound, and fill up the lane," Crouch said. "He is a big kid who likes to play big, play tough inside. He just needs to upgrade his skills and keep working hard.'

Folk played on the junior varsity as a sophomore at Friendship Academy in 2008-2009 after attending Jericho Christian, a private Christian school in suburban Maryland, and being home schooled, before attending Friendship Academy.

"This place [Friendship Academy] has been good for me in terms of academics and basketball and all," the soft spoken Folk said in an interview before a summer league game. "I'm working on getting stronger, getting in better shape, improving my vertical leap and quickness with strength and conditioning workouts. I'm working on all parts [of my game], mostly on my offense and my post game."

A resident of Southeast, Washington, DC, Folk said that he wants to be a center in college, not a forward.

"I'm a center, a post player - that is my game, I don't want to be a four [power forward]. I'm a five. That's how I'm best suited to play and I like playing inside," Folk added.

As his varsity prep career has not yet begun and he is still an unknown in college recruiting circles, Folk hopes to get recruited by some of his favorite colleges by the time his senior year rolls around in 2010-2011. Folk presently likes Georgetown, Syracuse, Villanova, Florida and Texas.

"He is a really big kid, about 6-10 and 250-pounds. He has a size 18 shoe and he might still be growing. He just needs to keep playing and working hard," Crouch said. "He can definitely be a force inside, especially on defense. He likes to play tough and he'll do the things inside that you need. We'll see, but, if he keeps working hard, he could be good - he is still a young kid with a lot of room to improve."

James Quinn covers high school basketball for MDVarsity.com