Jay Jay Swanigan can exhale.
After pounding the pavement to try to find a place to play basketball in college, the Columbus High School senior finalized his plans Tuesday to play at Itawamba Community College in Fulton in a signing ceremony at Columbus High. Swanigan signed the official National Letter of Intent on Friday.
“It was stressful,” Swanigan said. “I was worried, and my mind was flowing with thoughts. When this hit me, everything left. I am happy now. I am ready to go.”
Swanigan recently attended a tryout at ICC and said he felt he did “all right.” The opportunity came against a bunch of other players who also were fighting to make an impression on the coaches. In that kind of setting, Swanigan knew he might not get a true opportunity to show what he could do, so he focused on running the court, playing defense, and taking advantage of his scoring opportunities when he did get the ball. He said ICC men’s basketball coach Grate Pate told him he was going to contact Columbus High boys basketball coach Sammy Smith when he had news about a possible scholarship offer.
“I felt like I really didn’t do that good, but after a while I looked at it and thought I did what I could do,” Swanigan said.
Pate first called Smith, who didn’t give Swanigan any indication about what was going to happen. Swanigan then missed Pate’s phone call, so he returned the call and finally discovered he was finally going to get the offer he had been waiting to get.
Swanigan, a 6-foot-4 senior swingman from Columbus High, averaged 7.9 points and 2.8 rebounds for a team that went 22-6 and lost in the second round of the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 6A State tournament.
Last month, Swanigan was selected to represent Mississippi and Louisiana in the USA International Basketball Championship on July 8-12 in Columbus, Ohio. The tryout was part of a rigorous schedule of workouts and college visits Swanigan made in attempt to find the right fit.
Swanigan was supposed to attend a tryout last month at Holmes Community College in Goodman, but he didn’t get to go. He said he went to a tryout at East Central C.C. in Decatur and one at Meridian C.C. before and going to Concordia College, a four-year school in Selma, Alabama. Swanigan said he wanted to start at a smaller school, which is why he didn’t want to go to Concordia College. When none of the other opportunities materialized, Swanigan said he kept faith, prayed, and hoped he would get a chance.
Smith said Swanigan is a versatile player who can play guard and forward. While he said Swanigan will have to work on his skills as a guard to transition from high school to college, he said there is no question Swanigan is the kind of young man any coach would want in their program.
“Jay Jay was a four-year starter,” said Smith, who coached Swanigan the past four years as coach of the Columbus High boys basketball team. “We are proud for him as a person. The character and the type of kid he is outweighs any point he put on the board for us. When I got on to him, he never flinched. He came out and tried to do the best he could, which means he deserves this. If he does what he is supposed to do, I am not worried about the character issues, he is going to be a guy who can be coached.
“His skill level might not be quite ready for a two position (shooting guard), or whatever it is, but you always need that kid to go in and do a little bit of this, a little bit of that, and do the dirty work and fit in in different spots. I think Jay Jay can do anything from a three or a four position (small forward, power forward), but he still has to stay in the gym and work. The main thing is being the person he is. That will carry him farther than any jump shot he is going to make.”
Swanigan knows he will have to “build himself up and change his game” to adjust to the college game. None of that worries him, though, because he has spent the past few months trying to prove to people he can play at the next level.
“It was a lot of weight lifted off my shoulders,” Swanigan said. “I am good. I am ready to go on and play.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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