Josh Jackson playing with heavy heart

By: LARRY VAUGHT


Josh Jackson and his Mom, Apple

PADUCAH — Josh Jackson knew he wanted to play in the McCracken County Mustang Madness with his Prolific Prep (Calif.) teammates. However, he also knew it would not be easy.

His game Friday against Prime Prep (Texas) was his first back on the court since his father died of a heart attack Dec. 20 in Las Vegas.

“Playing was pretty hard on me but I know Dad is proud of me and what I do. I am going to continue what I do for him. He had a huge influence on my career,” said Jackson, one of the top players in the 2016 recruiting class. “His passing was unexpected. I didn’t see it coming.I feel like I have a chip on my shoulder now. I am definitely going to try even harder.”

The junior guard played in Lexington in December and coaches John Calipari of Kentucky, Rick Pitino of Louisville and Bruce Pearl of Auburn — the first coach to offer a scholarship — were there to watch him.  Kansas coach Bill Self came here Friday. ESPN ranks the 6-8 Jackson as the No. 2 overall player in the junior class and UCLA, Arizona, Michigan State, California, Florida State, Ohio State, Oregon and Memphis are some of the other schools that have offered scholarships.

Jackson transferred from Detroit Consortium to Prolific Prep, a new basketball academy.

"He's a big attacking two-guard that can score and is so unselfish," Prolific Prep coach Philippe Doherty said. "He's a really good passer. He can make plays for people just because he can get anywhere he wants on the floor. He might be one of the three best high school defenders in the country, too.”

Still, his mother, Apples Jones, knew he was playing with a heavy heart Friday when he went 2-for-6 from the field and 6-for-8 at the foul line to score 10 points in 25 minutes before fouling out of the 71-58 loss. He also had seven rebounds.

“With everything to consider, I think he handled it pretty well. But me as parent, I could see he was not all the way there,” Jones, who came from Michigan to support her son, said. “Emotionally he was not able to play the game the way he normally does prior to his dad passing and physically I thought that he probably could have played harder. But considering all he has going on, I just wanted to be here to support him and be here. I just needed to be here.

“His dad trained with Josh from a young age. Josh been with him since he was 5 or 6 years old. He took it tough because my son normally don’t cry. To see him cry, I knew it affected him. Hopefully the support will be there and help him get through it when I am not.”

“My mom is a strong woman. She is helping me out a lot just from whenever I think about passing of my dad, she helps me out,” Jackson said.

She’s also helping him handle his recruitment.

“Recruiting is going pretty good right now. For me moving from the east coast to the west coast, I have picked up a couple of schools,” he said. “But I am pretty much up for anything. I would go anywhere as long as it was the right fit.”

He says he has no favorite and has not “been too serious” about narrowing his college list yet.

He says there has been a “little contact with Kentucky here and there” — UK assistant coach Kenny Payne visited Prolific Prep — and he has a Kentucky scholarship offer.

“Kentucky is a great school. They always get gerat players. Players in my class I love playing with that have Kentucky offers. They would be up there when it comes time to pick,” Jackson, who says he could play two guard or small forward in college, said.

He took an unofficial visit to UK when he played in Lexington in November in another showcase.

“We went to their practice and what stood out to me was the competitiveness. Watching their practice it was hard for me to tell these guys were on the same team. They were going at each other so hard,” Jackson, who has played on two gold medal teams for USA Basketball, smiled and said.

However, his mother says she knows nothing about a Kentucky scholarship offer for her son.

“I don’t know who they talk to. They don’t talk to us. I don’t know where they are at,” she said Friday. “There has never been an offer from Kentucky. There has never been a conversation from Kentucky. I am thankful because at this point it is not something I am heavily entertaining.

“Josh has another year and I will take this time between now and him signing and we will get more serious with schools we are interested in. Once he is ready, he will come out. We are not rushing or be like everybody recruit us. We don’t need the hoopla and all the attention.

“The recruiting is not that bad, but it is what people put in the paper that all these schools are coming after him and that’s not true. There are a certain few that we speak with. I don’t entertain the whole NCAA. Only a handful I would talk to because kids only get five (official) visits. There’s no need to talk to 50 (schools) when I can’t visit 50 whether official or unofficial. That’s a waste of time, so right now Josh is just focusing on his academics and preparing himself for the SAT. Once he gets past that, we will take recruitment more serious. The schools I talk to, they know where we are at and how we feel.”

She says they won’t waste their time or coaches’ time for schools they are not interested in. She also didn’t want to be specific about what schools her son had the most interest in.

“I don’t want to say one because I may miss another. I have made that mistake before. But they know who they are and ones we don’t have interest in, they know who they are,” she said.

Jackson, who turns 18 in February, is a National Honor Society member and one of his hobbies is playing chess based on information from USA Basketball. However, he’s also had to cope with the death of his high school coach, Al Anderson, in 2013 and now the death of his father.

“His freshman year his coach passed. That was first time somebody really close to him passed. Now two years later his dad passes. I don’t know. Just here to support my son and what don’t break us will make us stronger,” Jones said. “He took it really bad when his coach passed. But he has a big enough support system to get through this.”

That includes continued long distance support from her.

“I live in Michigan and have no intentions to move to California like some have said. I didn’t help start that school. I don’t know why people write some things they do about us. I open the paper and go, ‘Wow. Really.’ We are just a normal family and like our privacy and my son playing and doing what he loves. We are not in it for the fame,” she said. “I have been through some of this myself. Not at the caliber he is, but I know what to look for. I know what I have learned. I am going to make sure he don’t have some experiences I had. I just want to make it easier for him.”