Recruiting Report: Jared Bacon (2016)
Johnston guard Jared Bacon was playing behind a bevy of talented seniors last season as a junior, but has promptly evolved into the go-to guy for the Dragons of late The 5-foot-11 guard is leading his team averaging 16.7 points this…
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Continue ReadingJohnston guard Jared Bacon was playing behind a bevy of talented seniors last season as a junior, but has promptly evolved into the go-to guy for the Dragons of late
The 5-foot-11 guard is leading his team averaging 16.7 points this season, and despite not playing grassroots ball last summer, he has seen some recruitment come his way so far — albeit very little.
“One school is interested in me, Concordia in Nebraska (NAIA), they send me letters and one of their coaches has texted me and stuff like that. But besides that, nothing,” said Bacon.
The well-built guard says that not playing grassroots ball during his 17U season probably is having an impact on his lack of recruitment so far, but he does not regret the decision.
“I think definitely not playing AAU is a reason why I’m not being recruited much, last summer could have been a critical year for recruitment,” said Bacon. “I talked to my coach, Coach (Bobby) Sandquist a little bit, and a player a few years back Andrew Vander Zwaag, he did the same thing, he didn’t play AAU going into his senior year. He just really worked hard and got a lot better, and he ended up picking up an offer from Truman State.”
Bacon added: “That’s just kind of what I’m trying to do right now, I’m just trying to not worry about colleges right now, and to just worry about the season. I’m worried about being the best I can be and if colleges come, they come, and if they don’t, they don’t.”
What colleges will find when they do start recruiting the Dragons senior, is a quick and athletic scoring guard with an ability to knock down the deep ball with regularity.
“I usually consider shooting a strength – I’m a good 3-point shooter, but I also have a good mid-range game. I’ve been working on getting inside more, but so far I haven’t gotten quite as good as I’d like at that. But I can do other things like a floater, and a pull-up, so I’m not too one-dimensional,” said Bacon.
“I definitely need to get inside and drive more, I feel like I have the ability to, but I’ve never really been a huge driver. I just need to get inside more I think.”
Along with Eric Francois, Bacon is the only other senior starter on a Johnston team that has started the season with a very tough schedule, resulting in an underwhelming 2-4 start.
Bacon said along with scoring the ball at high rate, his leadership is important to the team’s ultimate success.
“I try to be the leader this year and just try to be positive with everything. We had a really tough stretch, and played some of the toughest teams in the state to start the season,” said Bacon. “My teammates look to me a lot to score this year so I’ve been trying to do that. I’ve just been honestly doing anything I can to help the team win.”