After a breakout summer with Team Trae Young and a commitment to continue his basketball journey at The University of Alabama, Rylan Griffen has spent the early part of his senior season at Richardson High in Texas helping lift the Eagles back into the national spotlight.

Sitting at 13-1 headed into the Christmas break, Richardson is currently ranked No. 12 in the nation according to ESPN and No. 11 on Max Preps. Both outlets have them second in the state behind only unbeaten No. 1 Duncanville.

Richardson’s impressive start to the season includes a Texas Invitational title that saw them win five games in three days by an average of 13 points per game. Rylan’s tourney was highlighted by a 32-point effort against Crosby and he was named to the All-Tournament team while teammate Cason Wallace, a Kentucky commit, won Tourney MVP.

“We did something that Richardson never did,” Rylan said after the tournament.

Richardson followed their sweep of that season-opening tournament with a 61-38 win over then No. 1 AZ Compass at Hoopfest during Thanksgiving weekend in Fort Worth, Texas.

Rylan outscored Compass 13-5 by himself in the first quarter, which he started on a personal 7-0 run. He had 20 points by halftime and finished with a game-high 25 in the blowout victory.

“They were No. 1 in the country, so we knew they weren’t a cupcake team,” Rylan said. “We felt like if we hit them in the mouth first, we’d be good the rest of the game.”

Rylan followed that up a few days later by helping his team improve to 8-0 by scoring 28 points in a 78-59 win over in-state rival Memorial.

Richardson followed with wins over Southlake Carroll and Coppell to move to 10-0 on the season. After a 23-point showing against Coppell, Rylan was averaging better than 22 points per game.

That sent Richardson off to Tennessee for Battle in the Bluff, retired NBAer Stephen Jackson’s high school hoops showcase. They topped Kenwood out of Chicago in the first game, but one night later suffered their first setback in a tough 82-68 loss to North Little Rock.

Richardson has since bounced back with in-state wins over Highland Park and Nimitz and head into the holiday break with state title hopes square within their sights.

“I’m thankful for this team. We’ve got a bunch of dogs in that locker room and we come out and fight every single night,” Rylan said.