Michigan Collegiate Hoops brings in multi-sport stars to build program – Macomb Daily
Caleb Moore of Michigan Collegiate rushes to the basket. (BRADY McATAMNEY – MediaNews Group, File)
Michigan Collegiate is home to the three-sport athlete.
We live in an age of specialization in sports. Many middle school students are encouraged to focus on the sport they excel in. By the time an athlete reaches high school, many have already narrowed their focus to a single sport.
The coaches and administrators at Michigan Collegiate will not allow this to happen.
“You can’t play sports at our school unless you play three sports,” said Kaleb Moore, who quarterbacked the Cougars’ football team to the Division 6 district finals last year and is expected to be a leader on the basketball team.
“We have built this legacy for all of our players. I have to thank all of my coaches for supporting us and helping us get better every year.”
Moore sees advantages in practicing multiple sports.
“You go from one sport to the next and warm up,” he said. “You don’t burn out, you stay active all year round.”
With so many of the basketball players also playing football, basketball coach Jenorris Jackson has to consider both teams’ summer schedules. The Cougars recently attended the Horatio Williams basketball camp at Detroit Mercy, but don’t have many other camps on their schedule.
“At Michigan Collegiate, we preach three-sport athletes,” Jackson said. “All of our teams have guys who play three sports. A lot of football athletes play basketball, so we don’t do as much this summer.”
“We know what they want. We know what Michigan Collegiate’s goals are. We have a football team that should perform well as well.”
Last season, the football team was ranked first in Division 6 of the state for several weeks, but lost 40-38 to eventual state finalist Almont in the district finals on a muddy field.
The basketball team got off to a slow start in Jackson’s first season as head coach, but the Cougars won six of their final eight games and finished the season 11-12.
“I got the job late in the summer, so it took a while for the guys to understand how I like to play,” he said. “We did a lot of things differently. We had to change a few things and it took about four or five games before we knew I was a guy who wanted to make it. I like to play fast, hard, physical basketball.”
Collegiate lost to Center Line 57-50 in the district finals last year.
“We missed a couple of shots down the stretch,” Jackson said of the loss to the Panthers. “We’re definitely coming back with a vengeance this year. We have a good core group coming back. Three players from last year have left and we have six seniors on the team this year. Those guys are ready to take the next step, so we should be pretty good this year.”
Brothers Kaleb and Jacob Moore, as well as Demarion Johnson, are three key players on the football team who will be heavily counted on as they transition to basketball. Jackson is also excited about junior Tayden Redding, who won the state’s Division 3 high jump competition when he cleared 6.7 feet 8 inches.
“They can play the type of ball we want to play,” Jackson said. “The six guys we’re releasing are going to play a lot and they’re going to have to play a lot to get us where we want to go.”
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