SPRINGDALE, Ohio — Kameron Mercer admits July has been one of the best months of his life.
The Overtime Elite 6-foot-5 point guard and former Winton Woods Middle School basketball star added scholarship offers from the past week from North Carolina State, Louisville, Maryland and Central Florida.
The Georgia and Michigan basketball programs are showing significant interest, too. The Bulldogs and Wolverines want Mercer, who is ranked No. 6 nationally by ESPN in the 2028 class, to make an on-campus visit for a football game this fall.
All of those scholarship offers are in addition to the opportunities from the University of Cincinnati, Xavier University, Ohio State and Missouri.
Besides the college recruiting attention, the 15-year-old Mercer also helped Indy Heat 16u to the Peach Jam championship earlier this month. The annual Peach Jam is a prestigious Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) basketball event held in South Carolina.
“Winning Peach Jam was something I thought was nearly impossible and was questioning myself when I was younger could I really do it?” Mercer told WCPO 9 Sports in a text message. “And me stepping on that floor for two weeks straight just getting it done makes me more happy than I’ve ever been. Winning Peach Jam is literally one of the things I had written down as a kid and can now scratch it off the list.”
The additional scholarship offers and Peach Jam championship were earned after Mercer signed a multi-year, multimillion-dollar deal with Panini America earlier this summer. That deal was announced July 2.
"This month may have been one of the best if not the best month of my life," Mercer said.
Mercer is the first rising sophomore basketball player in the 2028 class to join Panini through a name, image and likeness (NIL) agreement.
“Kam has become one of the most accomplished basketball players Cincinnati has seen,” said EZ Sports Group Collegiate Director Trey Dees. “Just still 15 he has won a gold medal and a Peach Jam championship. We are very proud of Kam will continue to support him in any way we can.”
Mercer helped USA Basketball’s U16 National Team win a gold medal at the FIBA U16 Men’s AmeriCup in Juárez, Mexico in June. The five-star player averaged 5.8 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.2 steals in six games off the bench.
Mercer, who always makes it known that he’s from Greater Cincinnati, averaged 11 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists this past season for Huntington (W. Va.) Expression Prep.
Mercer, who received a City of Springdale proclamation July 2, signed with Overtime Elite in May and plans to report to the Atlanta-based program in August.
And yet it’s not just purely basketball for Mercer this summer. Mercer plans to host his first back-to-school backpack drive Aug. 2 at Winton Woods High School from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
“Giving back to the community has always been my dream,” Mercer wrote. “And I’m not just telling you that; I truly mean it. I wanted to be remembered as a good person, someone who is willing to do something to better us all and I’m 100% working toward that. This is about to be a fun day for me just seeing kids happy and giving out school supplies. There was a time where I didn’t have many school supplies so this sparks up memories just wishing I had this when I was in elementary and middle school.”
