Kennedy hoping to reach new heights at Reinhardt

Mitchell Kennedy grew a lot as a player during his four years at Heritage High School and the senior is hoping that growth will continue over the next few years at Reinhardt University.

The 6-foot-7 post made his college choice official during a signing ceremony at the high school this past Wednesday.

“(This has) been a dream ever since I started playing basketball in high school, so it means a lot,” Kennedy said “It funds success for me. This is something I wanted to do and now I’m going to do it.”

Reinhardt, an NAIA school, is located in Waleska, Ga., just a little more than an hour’s drive from Catoosa County.

“I like the coaching staff and, obviously, the location is great,” Kennedy said. “Other than basketball, it’s a great campus and it’s a place I want to spend the next four years.”

Eagles head coach Justin Newton, on hand for the signing, said he was excited to welcome Kennedy into the fold.

“Mitchell’s a great kid and, obviously, he has great size and a lot of upside,” the coach explained. “He’s pretty skilled for as big as he is and playing at this level (of high school) is really, really good.

“We have a lot of guys leaving after this year and we think he can provide a lot of depth at that four or five position for us. With his versatility, he can guard different positions, so we’re really, really excited to have him.”

The Eagles have 10 seniors or redshirt seniors listed on their 2020-2021 roster.

Kennedy finished his senior year by averaging six points and five rebounds a game, but came up big several times for the Generals this past season, including in the Region 7-AAAA tournament.

Kennedy averaged nine points in three tournament games, including 10 big points to go with several rebounds and a huge fourth-quarter block in the finals against Cedartown that gave Heritage its first-ever boys’ region title.

“Mitchell was huge for us inside and he had a big presence (in the lane), especially defensively, but he had some games, offensively, where he showed up for us, including the region finals,” Heritage head coach Kevin Terry recalled. “He really showed up when it counted that night, for sure.

“He’s a nice kid and a good student and there’s nothing bad you can say about him. He’s a good kid and he worked hard for us. He did what we asked and he just got smoother and smoother with his post moves.”

Kennedy said he planned to bring rebounding, interior scoring and his shotblocking ability to the Eagles.

“The thing about him is that his best basketball is still ahead of him,” Terry continued. “He’s still a little bit raw and still improving, so I think the sky’s the limit with him. I think he’s really going to help them at the next level.”

Kennedy said he is currently undecided on a major.