Hello Blazer Nation, Let me tell you how good it feels to be back in Birmingham. I can’t wait for the season to start and see everybody at Bartow Arena. Everybody has had their individual path to UAB. Some travel far, some are close to home. For me, I’ve come full circle. Here’s how it started. Growing up in Birmingham, I went to a handful of high schools. I attended Ramsay, Homewood, and Hoover in a four-year span. While at Homewood, I helped lead them to a 2016 Alabama 6A State Title. The following year, my mother got a job at Hoover High School, so I transferred there for my senior season. I had a solid year, averaging 19 points, 15 rebounds, and five blocks per game. I did that all on a torn meniscus. Because of the transfers, there would be days where opposing school officials would come into my home and ask to see things like my toothbrush and under garments. After a while, I realized they were trying to make sure I lived where I said I lived.
I was recruited by at least 20 teams but I narrowed my top three choices to Georgia Tech, Harvard and Clemson. After a lot of consideration, I chose to attend Clemson. When I got to campus, I knew I still needed to do some work physically. I was still rehabbing with my meniscus injury. Because there was so little I could do while dealing with a knee injury, I lived in the gym lifting weights. I wanted to make sure I was strong enough to handle my own in college, especially in the ACC. When I got to campus, I was about 200 pounds soaking wet. After a lot of time in the weight room, I put on at least 60 pounds of muscle. When I was able to return to the court, I was the strongest guy out there but I was also the slowest. I could push around anyone I wanted on the court but my lack of cardio was starting to catch up with me. It was hard for me to run up and down the court fluently. After a while, I realized that my playing time was decreasing. I was playing behind Aamir Simms, who was doing his thing on the court and averaging over 30 minutes per game. I just had to evaluate myself closely. I wasn’t going to get much playing time and I also knew that I needed to be closer to my family. Therefore, I decided to enter the transfer portal on May 6th. Within 30 minutes of entering the portal, I received a phone call from Coach Kennedy and that’s no exaggeration. He wanted me to come to UAB. At the time, I was looking at UAB along with Samford and some others. For some reason, UAB just felt right. It was the ideal situation. I could finish my collegiate career in my hometown with my family watching. I couldn’t have asked for a better situation. And on August 26, I got the best news I could hope for when the NCAA granted the waiver letting me become eligible immediately. The Hometown Kid is back! Go Blazers!
