CALEDONIA — When Gary Griffin took over as head coach of the Caledonia High School boys basketball team two years ago, he met with sophomore Cooper McCleskey and laid out his plan.
By the time McCleskey reached his senior year with the Confederates, Griffin wanted him to grow into a leadership role with the team and make considerable expansions to his game.
More than two years later, McCleskey has done that — and then some.
One of Caledonia’s three seniors, the 6-5 wing is the ‘Feds’ go-to scorer and their leader on the court, filling the roles Griffin expected him to someday attain.
“It’s just good to be able to see the development he’s made — not only as a basketball player but as a student-athlete as well,” Griffin said.
McCleskey — “a very in-depth person,” according to Griffin — focuses on academics just as much as athletics. He has a 3.9 GPA and scored a 25 on his ACT.
On Friday morning, the hard work McCleskey put in on both facets of school — on the court and in the classroom — paid off, as McCleskey signed his national letter of intent to play basketball at Northeast Mississippi Community College.
“Any time one of your players gets the opportunity to move on and further their academic education and also their athletic career, that’s all you can ask for,” Griffin said. “Cooper, he’s done everything we’ve asked him to do in order to put himself in a position to be able to do this.”
McCleskey spent lots of his free time improving his game — if he wasn’t studying, anyway.
“He loves to work on his game any time he gets the opportunity,” Griffin said. “Whether I’m in the gym working with him or whether he’s working on his own, he’s doing it.”
By the time his senior year rolled around, McCleskey had offers from basically every junior college in the state — and a few out-of-state schools, too.
Then he visited Northeast’s Booneville campus.
“When I went on the visit, I just really enjoyed it,” McCleskey said. “I liked talking to their coaches; I liked the campus. I just felt like it was the right place when I went on the visit. I just knew it was where I wanted to go.”
McCleskey announced his commitment Dec. 19, and just under a month later, he made it official in front of a crowd that was “bigger than I thought it was gonna be.”
“I’m just thankful for it,” he said. “I just want to say thank you to all the coaches and my family, because I couldn’t have done it without them.”
McCleskey said his senior year is flying by faster than any other, and before it’s over, he’s just trying to make the best of it.
“It’s been fun just being able to put the team on my back,” he said. “It’s been better than last year. I’m proud of the team and where we’ve gone so far, but we’ve got a lot more stuff to do.”
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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