Roman Catholic’s Daniel Skillings went from hoops unknown to one of the top recruits in Pennsylvania

It’s hard not to notice Daniel Skillings when he’s on the court.

The 6-foot-6 guard has become a star at Roman Catholic High School, where it’s not uncommon for him to score 20-plus points, grab 10 rebounds, and dish out a handful of assists against Philadelphia Catholic League opponents. Even if his production wasn’t already grabbing the attention of scouts, coaches, and fans alike, Skillings’ length and raw physical talent have helped him become a blue-chip prospect.

The four-star recruit is the No. 3 player in Pennsylvania’s 2022 class, and he ranks just outside the national top 100. That profile helped Skillings sign with Cincinnati after he’d earned offers from a plethora of Division I schools.

But Skillings wasn’t always widely known. For most of his high school career, Skillings was out of the recruiting spotlight. The reason? It wasn’t until ninth grade that Skillings played his first organized game of basketball.

The idea for Skillings to go out for his high school team — at the time, St. Joseph Academy of Hammonton, N.J. — was first proposed by his father, Daniel Skillings Sr. To the younger Skillings, the idea made sense. Even if he didn’t play organized ball early on, he still had an interest in the game and would frequently play pickup games. Without an idea of what to expect, Skillings tried out for, and made, the varsity team at St. Joseph.

Still, Skillings was an unfinished player. He had raw physical talent, as well as a strong instinct for the game, but he still had to learn how to play. Skillings’ approach to basketball was a laid-back one, and he didn’t yet know how much work he needed to put into his game to take it to the next level.

Enter Kenny Jackson, Skillings’ Philly Pride AAU coach and primary basketball trainer. Before Skillings went to him, Jackson already had a track record of success in player development. Some of his former players include former Duke standout Amile Jefferson, Atlanta Hawks forward De’Andre Hunter, and Big 5 rising stars Jordan Hall and Jordan Longino.

Jackson started working with Skillings during sophomore year at St. Joseph. Knowing Jackson’s reputation for developing young players in the Philadelphia-area, Skillings’ uncle had called the coach to pitch the idea of working with his nephew.

Once Skillings started working with Jackson, things clicked. Jackson helped Skillings develop a gym rat mentality and become a student of the game. The longtime player development coach also played a part in Skillings’ transfer to Roman Catholic following the guard’s sophomore season.

“He put me in the gym, and I started falling in love with the game,” Skillings said. “Then, he got me to transfer to Roman Catholic, and that’s when I would just train with him every day and elevate my game. That’s when I fell in love with the game, when I got involved with him.”

From there, it didn’t take long for Skillings to transform his lifestyle. With the help of Jackson, instead of picking up a ball only a few times a week to play pickup games, Skillings is now in the gym every day.

“Every single day is sleep, eat, basketball,” Skillings said. “Sleep, eat, basketball every single day for the rest of my life until I’m done playing basketball.”

What exactly does a normal training routine look like for Skillings? While the answer varies depending on whether a workout is in- or out-of-season, one thing remains the same: It’s all basketball, all the time.

“[Jackson] and I will wake up in the morning at 8 a.m. and lift,” Skillings said. “After lift, we’ll go to his gym, get shots up, [do] handling drills, do heavy ballhandling drills. We do a lot of in-game shooting and a lot of conditioning. … Later that night, we’ll go back and do a light 45 minutes to an hour workout and just build that repetition every day for the game. And I will do that almost every day in the summer.

“When high school [season] hits, I go to school, and after school we’ll lift, and after lift, we’ll have a practice for Roman. After Roman … my personal trainer and I, we’ll have our personal workout.”

In his many years as a coach, Jackson has seen, and trained, a variety of talented players. Yet, there are still things about Skillings’ game that make the coach believe the Roman Catholic product could be very special.

“He’s got things you can’t teach,” Jackson said. “He also loves to work. He’ll get up early in the morning, and he’ll come back to the gym late at night. I don’t like to compare, but Amile was the same way, and De’Andre was the same way.”

Skillings’ approach to working on his game no longer mirrors the laid-back style he first had as a freshman at St. Joseph. But his personality has remained the same, and it’s something that has stuck out to everyone who has worked with the Philly native.

“He’s got that personality,” Roman Catholic coach Chris McNesby said. “When he walks into the room, you know he’s there, he’s got a big smile

“He brings that little bit more laid-back kind of personality. He’s always keeping it pretty loose.”

It also caught the attention of the college coaches recruiting Skillings, and it became just another reason for his remarkable recruiting rise.

“The college coaches that were recruiting him really remarked about how refreshing it was to see a kid in the warmup line with a big smile, looked like he really enjoyed it, enjoyed playing, and was excited to play,” McNesby said. “They want to have guys that love the game and have a passion for it.”

One of the coaches who began to take an interest in Skillings was Wes Miller from Cincinnati. Miller, who was named the Bearcats’ head coach last April after a successful decade at the helm of UNC Greensboro, cited Skillings’ personality, as well as his ability to score, rebound, and play aggressive defense.

“He said he’s not going to promise me a starting spot, but he’ll give me opportunities to start,” Skillings said of Miller. “He’ll keep it real about my game. … I like that kind of coach that’s hard on you. That’s my type of mentality when I go into games, knowing that I have a coach that has my back.

“Them being honest and true to me really stood out to me. They’re a great program, and they play super hard, they play together, [and] they’re selfless.”

Signing to Cincinnati marked a major milestone for Skillings the basketball player. Less than four years ago, Skillings had never played in an organized game of basketball. Now, the Roman Catholic star is leading his team on a run to securing a Philadelphia Catholic League championship.