Former WashingtonPrep excelling on JUCO scene

Cooley · September 27, 2005

September 22, 2005

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Mike Warchol

WashingtonPreps.com

Since it had been almost three years since he last laced up his basketball shoes in a game, you should have expected Jonathan Jackson to be rusty. But the versatile 6-foot-8, 240-pound forward/post originally from Vancouver slowly got into shape during his freshman year at Mineral Area College in Missouri, and now he's not only looking forward to a good sophomore year, but another chance at playing Division I basketball as well. It's been a long road but Jackson is almost there.

Jackson, who last played as a high school senior at Evergreen High School in 2001-02, has spent the past three years essentially as a nomad.

From Evergreen, he sat out a year at Jefferson High School in Portland, and despite never donning a Demos uniform, he earned a scholarship to Eastern Washington.

Jackson never played in Cheney in the year-plus that he was there though due to various reasons, so from there he moved on to Mineral Area, where after joining the team at mid-season in 2004-05, he averaged 4.8 points and 3.2 rebounds in a reserve role.

"Jonathan had a little bit of an up and down freshman season," said Mineral Area head coach Corey Tate. "But I expect him to have a great season this year. He's a great kid who's going to work hard and do some things."

Although his numbers weren't mind-blowing last season, Jackson's talents have not gone unnoticed - much like his high school days. His size, length, and ability to play some on the perimeter had several schools intrigued this summer and it's to the point where Jackson is going to sign a letter-of-intent somewhere in November.

"He's getting recruited by North Texas, Utah State, UNLV - a lot of guys," Tate said. "He went on a visit to North Texas last weekend, and it went pretty good - he loves the coaching staff. He's got a visit scheduled to Utah State this weekend. After that, he's still trying to get things organized. But he'll sign in the fall."

Tate noted that Jackson is taking is time in making his decision. But one thing he believes his emerging big man will benefit the most from is a school that will allow him to play his game. "He needs to go somewhere where they let the big guys step out and shoot it," Tate said. "That's his greatest attribute."