Kevin Strickland’s son is the scorekeeper for the Monroe Area boys jayvee basketball team.
Three years ago, after games, he’d report back to his dad, the varsity head coach, about a certain player who was consistently lighting up the scoreboard.
“He kept telling me how Jeremy was scoring all these points,” Strickland recalled. “I just told him that it didn’t mean it would translate over to the varsity level.”
Four games into his junior season, his first year on the varsity, Jeremy Anderson showed that his ability to put the ball in the basketball was no lower-level fluke.
A last-minute insert into the starting lineup after the player in front of him was suspended from the team, the 6-foot-3 forward led the team with 20 points in a loss to Winder-Barrow.
He’s been among the Hurricanes starting five ever since, helping lead the program to back-to-back region titles. He was recently named all-region for the second straight year.
He’s the Walton Tribune boys basketball Player of the Year.
“He’s got great hands, quickness, and he’s great in space,” Strickland said. “He can move with the ball and find a way to score.”
He averaged 12.9 points his first year. He bumped that up to 17.5 this year, tops on a team loaded with offensive weapons.
While he was quite proficient at creating his own shot, he also benefited from a pair of guards who each totaled 100-plus assists. Against Winder this season, a team he always tormented, he scored 28 while dribbling just six times.
He was also a dominant force defensively, where he was usually matched up against the opposing team’s biggest player. He finished the season averaging 9.8 rebounds a game, just shy of a double-double.
Besides being a basketball standout, he also starred on the gridiron. As a wide receiver, he was second on the team in receptions with 27 catches for 525 yards and four TDs.
But his first love is basketball.
“We have a lot of football players on our team, and most of those are football-first,” Strickland said. “But Jeremy is a basketball player who plays football.”
He’ll likely continue his career in college. And Strickland has no doubt his game will translate to the next level.
(1) comment
Great job lilman!:) #foreverbleedingpurple
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