2023 Jaden Winston talks early season success and recruitment
DeMatha Catholic's history as a high school powerhouse is well documented. They've consistently been a top-25 team in the country with a fair share of four and five-star prospects littering their roster. Entering the 2022-23 season under new head coach Mike Jones, they may not have the nationally known prospects as usual, but what they do have is a long list of talent that has bought into Jones' system and culture.
Leading the pack is senior point guard
Jaden Winston
Jaden
Winston
5'9" | PG
DeMatha | 2023
State
MD
. The 5'9 lead guard is one who spearheads the gritty, tenacious energy on both sides of the ball. It has been critical in their 9-3 start and was on display in their two wins at the Governor's Challenge against Dream City Christian (AZ) and Bergen Catholic (NJ).
"We're playing really well together and gelling under Coach Jones," Winston told Prep Hoops. "Just playing hard with energy and effort and letting everything else take care of itself. We start on the defensive end and we know we don't have any starts on the offensive end, so we just focus on playing harder than everyone else and just get after it."
Earning two hard fought wins at the Governor's Challenge will be used as confidence building victories with WCAC play around the corner.
"We're trending in the right direction. We had some early losses this season where we felt like we beat ourselves, so now we just take it one game at a time as we approach conference play and just want to control our energy and effort."
Winston is one of the fiercest competitors you'll find at the point guard position in the DMV and holds himself to a high standard.
"I've had some ups and downs, but I feel like my leadership has been consistent. I just need to take care of the ball on valuable possessions, so it's just really slowing the game down in my head. Just trying to not too much on the offensive end to over complicate things and always bring what I bring to the defensive end."
Winston had taken on a much bigger role in comparison to his junior season and Coach Jones has been an instrumental part in helping make the transition a seamless one despite embarking on a challenging schedule.
"Coach Jones has given me a lot of confidence. Playing under him, he just instills in me that I'm a great player and has helped me trust in myself and believe in myself. I've been staying in the gym and working on my shot, watching film to see where I can fix other aspects of my game and just getting better every day."
On the recruiting front, Winston doesn't have any offers, but multiple programs are tracking him closely. Army, Colgate and Cornell are the programs he has heard from consistently and is favoring the high academic route in his college search.
"I'm looking for a high academic school with a winning culture. Just being around guys who love winning and hate losing as much as I do."
