Prospect Watch: Jericole Hellems (2018)
Class of 2018 forward Jericole Hellems of Chaminade College Prep is looking forward to his second trip to the Nike EYBL Peach Jam in two weeks.
The 6’7″ Hellems played up with the St. Louis Eagles 17U team as a 16U player in last year’s Peach Jam. The Eagles are now called the Brad Beal Elite and they will be headed to Augusta, GA for the Peach Jam from July 12-16. Hellems got some valuable experience at last year’s Peach Jam as a 16U reserve, but now he is looking to make a bigger impact as a 17U starter.
“It was real exciting and it was a good experience,” Hellems said. “Just to get the exposure and playing against the top players in the country made it a great experience. I hope I can make some more noise this year. I feel a lot more comfortable and confident, just knowing what is going to happen.”
A versatile combo forward, Hellems is among the top players in the state of Missouri. He has received Division I offers from programs such as Tulsa, Illinois State, IUPUI, SIUE and Georgia Southern. He is receiving interest from many other Division I programs.
The experience of playing up a level last summer really sparked him to a big junior season for the Red Devils. Hellems averaged 21.6 points, 6.7 rebounds and 2.8 assists while shooting 45 percent from 3-point range. He led the Red Devils to a 24-7 record and a fourth-place finish in the Class 5 state tournament. His size and versatile set of skills have made him a big matchup problem for opposing defenders.
Hellems stepped into some big shoes, left by graduated All-American Jayson Tatum, who went on to the Duke and the NBA Draft. As a junior, Hellems put up a few Tatum-like offensive outbursts. The biggest performance came in January when He exploded for 47 points against Belleville Althoff in the championship game of the Belleville East Tournament. He also had 33 points against Belleville East and 31 points against SLUH in the championship game of the district tournament.
“It helped my confidence a lot when I played with Jayson and watched how hard he worked to get where he is today,” Hellems said. “I watched how humble he was and how he took it to the next level.”