After spending the 2010-2011 school year at Southern Miss, battling NCAA eligibility and clearinghouse hurdles, Trency Jackson left the program to play for coach Steve Forbes and attend Northwest Florida State Junior College. The move has paid off as Jackson has played a key role helping the Raiders to a 29-1 record and state championship. Next up in the Nationals and Jackson could not say enough about his time at the school.
“The best part have been playing against top competition because the Panhandle [Conference] is like the top JUCO conference in the country,” Jackson told NBE on Sunday. “I’ve also loved playing with my teammates and coaching staff this year, one of the best.”
The 6-foot-2, 190-pound Jackson has been a complete team player for the Raiders. Despite modest statistics with around 11 points and 5 rebounds a game, Jackson made 1st Team All-Panhandle Conference this season. His strengths on the floor will likely be welcomed by any number of college teams recruiting him.
“I’ll say my strengths are my athleticism, ability to score and my tough on-ball defense,” he said.
He showed a glimpse of that athleticism with the dunk below against Chipola earlier this season, a dunk that has made the rounds of youtube this year:
http://www.nbebasketball.com/w3/201...co-trency-jackson-drawing-plenty-of-interest/
Jackson has also used his time at NW Florida State to improve his game, making him very intriguing for college coaches as he still has three years of eligibility left to play.
“The area that improved is my jump shot definitely,” said Jackson. “Also just the way I approach and play the game now, I play much smarter now than [in] high school.”
Jackson was a highly sought after recruit from Jackson (MS) and Wingfield High School where he led his team to a 29-1 record in his senior year, averaging over 20 points and 6 assists a game. He chose Southern Miss over USC, UAB and others, but a question on his ACT score had things held up on the Clearinghouse. He remained enrolled at Southern Miss and practiced with Larry Eustachy’s club for the year, but decided to move on to the JUCO ranks and explore other options.
“I will have three years to play at D-1…
got marked ineligible to play by the NCAA clearinghouse,” he said.
Now his options are plentiful and growing. Jackson told NBE that Pittsburgh, Purdue, Cincinnati, Virginia Tech, Nebraska, Marquette, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State and Wichita State are schools he is considering that are actively recruiting him.
“I’ll say everyone is equal, no leaders [right now],” he said.
Jackson still has some work to do on the season and then he will put more of his attention toward his recruitment. He plans to make some visits and then come up with a school that matches up with what he listed as important factors in his decision.
“I plan to make my decision after my season and visits to some of the schools,” he said. “A factor will probably be my playing time net year for the school and my comfort with the team and head coach.”
NBE will definitely monitor the process as Trency Jackson could be a late period recruit that makes an immediate impact at a high level Division 1-A program next season. Stay tuned…
