Daniel CartwrightThe normal school day starts at 7:50 a.m. CDT for Sequatchie County High School.
Graduating senior Daniel Cartwright’s next school will have days that begin considerably earlier.
After a few weeks of tryouts and workouts, Cartwright committed to continue his basketball career at Fork Union Military Academy, a prep school in Virginia. The 6-foot point guard averaged 20.9 points and 7.4 assists this past season for the Indians, who were Region 4-AA runners-up and advanced to their first state sectional since 1981.
Cartwright was a Class AA all-state honoree.
He said that because his dad is a truck driver, being away from home won’t be too big of an adjustment. The biggest change will be that students at Fork Union are required to wake up at 6:20 a.m. That’s 5:20 Central time.
“The military part is going to be a lot harder on me,” he said. “That’s going to be a big difference.”
Cartwright is pleased to have another opportunity to impress coaches.
“I had received some interest from some NAIA schools and a couple of NCAA Division IIs, but it was nothing that I really was interested in,” he said.
“Fork Union is going to give me another year to work on my game and not lose any college eligibility. Hopefully, I’ll get better offers and get a chance to sign with a Division I school.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.