Drey Ricks
Andre "Drey" Ricks is a former NCAA Division I basketball player for Western Michigan University and the founder of Rawimpact clothing brand & Rawimpact Basketball Training Academy.
Early life
Drey Ricks was born in Detroit, Michigan. Ricks is from a boxing family; Which consist of his uncle world champion Jimmy Paul, uncle, seven-time World Champion Thomas "Hitman" Hearns, and father Danny "MadDog" Paul. Ricks spent much of his adolescence in the legendary Kronk Boxing Gym, but was forbidden by his family not to become a boxer. Ricks played a year and a half of basketball at Detroit Pershing High School, earning a name for himself as "The Seatbelt" and known as one of the most feared on the ball defenders in the state. In March 2001, he made a guest appearance playing against the AND1 Streetball Live Tour at Calihan Hall. He averaged 16.0 points, 5.0 assists and 3.0 steals per outing as a junior and as a senior Ricks averaged 18.3 points, 6.0 assists and 4.0 steals and led Pershing to a 23–6 record as one of several NCAA Division I recruits on the team. Ricks played in the Detroit All-Star game and was named All-State in 2005. Ricks was ranked third best point guard in the state of Michigan by Prep Spotlight, The Detroit News, and the Detroit Free Press. He was ranked the #1 Ball Handler in the state of Michigan by Prep Spotlight Magazine and ranked one of the top players in the state regardless of class by Rivals.com and Scout.com.Ricks verbally committed to Western Michigan University as a sophomore in high school, after only playing a year and a half of high school basketball; Ricks was the youngest basketball player to commit to Western Michigan in WMU history.
College career
Ricks played four years at Western Michigan University.During the 2006 Western Michigan University Men's Basketball European Tour in Athens, Greece, Ricks logged his first career double-double with 22 points, 12 assists and 6 steals against the Greek U National Team. In 2007, Ricks scored 15 points and had 5 assists against the #11 ranked Oregon Ducks. Ricks played a key role in Western Michigan's Mid-American Conference West division championship. In 2007, Ricks was ranked fifth in the MAC conference in three-point shooting for all games. In December 2007 Ricks was named Division 1 MAC West Player of the Week by NCAA CollegeInsider.com. The following week Ricks was named Mid-Major Player of the Week after scoring a 29 points against unbeaten San Diego State University, which was coached by Michigan Fab 5, hall-of-fame Coach Steve Fisher.
In 2008, Ricks made a crossover move against Virginia Tech University thats was selected by ESPN SportsCenter's Top 10 Plays, coming in at number 5. He scored 16 points in 104 seconds, setting a new record for most points scored on ESPN nationally televised in under 3 minutes. Ricks finished in a tie for 12th in scoring 38 points in the ESPN Old Spice Classic tournament. In his tenth career start vs Temple University, he scored 17 points and had 4 assists. In WMU's victory over Pepperdine University, Ricks scored 19 points in the second half on his way to making all tournament.
Ricks career was cut short due to a torn ligament in his left wrist during summer team workouts that caused him to sit out and miss numerous games during the 2008–2009 season.
Ricks graduated from Western Michigan University with a bachelor's degree in criminal justice. In 2021, Ricks was accepted into the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication graduate program at Arizona State University. After graduating from WMU in 2009, Ricks was selected as youth camp counselor and coach of the Detroit Pistons youth basketball camp at The Palace of Auburn Hills. During summer of 2010, Ricks was selected by the Minnesota Timberwolves and Memphis Grizzles to assist with summer NBA pre-draft workouts. Ricks was selected as a coach for the NBA Adidas youth Basketball camp in Rome, Italy in 2009. Ricks earned the nickname "The Basketball Prophet" for the way he breaks down and analyzes basketball film. He is renowned for noticing small details.