Rod Cousin tipping us off with another NC recruit...hopefully this time will yield a better result than what happened with Wooten.
www.thetimesnews.com/articles/carethers-3158-tnvarsity-many-coming.htmlCarethers inks with RadfordJuly 17, 2011 12:46 AM
Bob Sutton / Times-News
Jalen Carethers had to wait longer than many players coming out of the senior class to land a college basketball opportunity, but he said it’s a delay well worth it.
Carethers, a center out of Cummings High School, said he agreed to a scholarship offer from Radford of the Big South Conference last week.
The courtship came about after a spring coaching change at Radford. Carethers’ late emergence left him unsigned and potentially, at one point, going to North Carolina A&T as a walk-on and then later dialed in to attend Charis Prep in Wilson.
“The good part is that Jalen had his ducks in a row,” Cummings coach George Robinson said. “He had good grades and he can play a little bit, too. Jalen will kind of live his dream to play Division I basketball.”
Last weekend, Carethers participated in an Amateur Athletic Union tournament in Charlotte and he made a quick impression.
“I had a couple of dunks in the game, a couple of blocked shots,” he said. “They saw me. They offered me right on the spot.”
He said he averaged 16 points, eight rebounds and six blocked shots in a five-game span. Yet he kept referring back to “dunking on” a few opponents as drawing particular attention from some college scouts.
Carethers, 17, is capable of that at 6-foot-8 and 185 pounds. He said he’s continuing to grow and so projections of a mobile player at about 6-10 became appealing.
Carethers was eligible for the tournament because he was an unsigned player. He played for the Kerry Richmond-coached N.C. Athletics team out of Burlington.
“It was a real good trip (to Charlotte),” he said. “I was playing very good, very good.”
Then he spent three days early last week in Radford, Va. The Highlanders are under the direction of new coach Mike Jones.
Carethers credited Rod Cousin, a Graham assistant coach who runs the Mid State Magic youth program and teams, as helping direct him through the latest process. Cousin, a former Radford player, said it proved to be a good match.
“Once (the new coaching staff) got in they made a phone call for me and told me they had an available scholarship (for this year),” Cousin said Saturday. “I had them watch (video) of him. They loved him. They loved him.”
Then last weekend in Charlotte, Cousin’s team was playing in the same tournament.
“They watched him, and they were ‘yeah, yeah,’ ” Cousin said. “He’s very active, very athletic and that’s the going craze for the colleges now.”
Carethers played last summer for the Mid State Magic.
“He contacted them … without him (it might not have happened),” Carethers said of Cousin’s connection to Radford.
Carethers, who intends to major in sports management, said he’s eager for an opportunity to play on the Division I level just a few months after having such an uncertain path regarding his basketball future.
“I’ve just got to get some more strength,” he said. “That’s why a lot of schools aren’t worried about my weight because that comes with time.”
Carethers comes from a traditionally strong Cummings program that has been wildly successful under Robinson. The Cavaliers went 25-3 during the past season, reaching a Class 2-A sectional final.
Robinson said Carethers has a good makeup to help a college program and should continue to develop as he adds strength. He averaged shy of 10 points per game as a senior, but Robinson said his defensive presence — despite some foul trouble at times — was most vital to the Cavaliers.
“I guess it is one of the positives of summer basketball and kids get a chance for (college recruiters) to come see them play,” Robinson said. “I’m glad Jalen kept playing. … Obviously, he got in front of the right folks.”