The Big Interview: Bearden Head Coach Jeremy Parrott

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>PICTURED: Bearden HS in June 2026</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Bearden Head Coach Will Campbell spoke late June about the state of the Bearden basketball program.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>PrepHoopsTN: </strong>Could you let me know who your 2027s are that are pretty good?<br><strong>Bearden Head Coach Jeremy Parrott:</strong> Yes. His recruitment has really picked up this summer, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2885732' first='Brendan' last='Murphy']</strong>. Been to Presbyterian on a visit. Had some conversations with some D2s and maybe another D1, which I can't remember for the life of me. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2881278' first='Damian' last='Cullom']</strong> has had a good summer. He has picked up a couple of offers this summer. Those have been our carriers in the 2027 class.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>PrepHoopsTN: </strong>What does Damian do well on the court?<br><strong>Bearden Head Coach Jeremy Parrott:</strong> Damian is a tough cover. I have talked to numerous other high school coaches and college coaches this summer that are really mixed up on who they get to guard him. We will have him bring the ball up the court, we will have him run the #1, we will have him run the #2, we will put him in the post spot. We wil pinch him in the post. We will get him to his spots. If you don't bring enough twitch to him, then he will get by you and score. If you don't bring enough size to him we will bring him inside and he can use his body and score. So, he is a really interesting cat. I was talking to one D1 coach this summer that said, "I really like watching him play because he utilizes what God gave him so well which is just an indication of how hard he has worked with what he has got.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>PrepHoopsTN: </strong>He is an interesting one. You think he is going to be slower than he is and you think he is going to be worse at dribbling than he is just by looking at him. <br><strong>Bearden Head Coach Jeremy Parrott:</strong> Everybody that talks about him says the same thing. We just don't know who to guard him with.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>PrepHoopsTN: </strong>He is a nightmare at your level.<br><strong>Bearden Head Coach Jeremy Parrott:</strong> Definitely.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>PrepHoopsTN: </strong>At some schools he might be forced to play a bigger position, maybe. But you guys don't have to do that.<br><strong>Bearden Head Coach Jeremy Parrott:</strong> I like to think we are pretty good at adapting to our players. You can get stuck as a coach and not want to change things that you are doing. At the end of the day you have to put them in position both offensively and defensively to utilize what they do best.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Brendan [Murphy] moving over to the one this summer has piqued the interest of a few colleges. I know Maryville is really interested and have never seen him on-ball before and he had some really, really solid games. He has had some learning curve because he has played with so many college guards during his time at Bearden, but he has done a really nice job. We weren't healthy at the "1" this summer and when we get our other guy back I think that will help Brendan too and allow him to float back and forth based on who our opponent is.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>PrepHoopsTN: </strong> Who was the other injured guard?<br><strong>Bearden Head Coach Jeremy Parrott:</strong> He wasn't injured. He had mononucleosis.<strong> Hudson Snider</strong>. I don't know if you know Jackson Garner who played at Maryville. It is his little brother. Hudson is a 2028, so he will have to carry some us at the point. Brendan is perfectly capable of doing it. It would just be nice to relieve him some nights. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>PrepHoopsTN: </strong>You had so many guys who could handle the ball last year. Brendan wasn't going to get that opportunity. That is exciting to hear.<br><strong>Bearden Head Coach Jeremy Parrott:</strong> Yeah it is. He has been working with Ques Glover this summer a good bit with some skill work. I think that has paid off for him being thrown into the fire. We had a game at Wofford against Ridgeview High School out of Columbia, South Carolina and they are three-time State Champs and I think we got beat by eight or nine. I think it was such a wakeup call for him to understand the physicality, the length of better programs and I think it spurred him on to even have a better Summer than he was going to have.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>PrepHoopsTN: </strong>You guys do an abnormally good job of getting out of state and seeing completely different programs. <br><strong>Bearden Head Coach Jeremy Parrott:</strong> We lost two games this summer. One was to that team out of Columbia and one was to a team out of Charlotte, Florida in the Tampa area. They got us by 7 or 8. We had a good win over Goodpasture at Tusculum. We had some good wins, but we try to put guys in unusual spots to make them uncomfortable. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>PrepHoopsTN:</strong> Who is your post?<br><strong>Bearden Head Coach Jeremy Parrott:</strong> Our big is a 6-foot-6 Bearden soccer player <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='3564544' first='Griffin' last='Anderson']</strong>. We have a rising freshman that is going to play on our varsity and that is not normal. I think Justin Nordin was the last one to get a little tick as a freshman and I think this kid is going to get to play a little bit in our varsity rotation. Conell Byrne (2030). [player_tooltip player_id='3686036' first='Ben' last='McDonald'] (2029) is another one that is a sophomore that is going to be good for us. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->