David Briggs: As local hoops stars leave town, can Toledo hang on to its top high school talent?
May 15—First it was Zeb Jackson, then Grace VanSlooten.
Next, it could be Jerry Easter II, the Toledo basketball phenom ranked as the top eighth grader in the nation.
No one will be surprised if he becomes the city's third big-time prospect in as many years to leave town for a prep-school power. The Easters are considering several high schools, some local, some as distant as Florida, Arizona, and California.
"Right now, we are shopping," Easter's mother, Trena Cook-Easter, told The Blade last month.
Altogether, call the three stars the canaries in the hoops mine ... maybe.
The big question now is whether their wandering eyes represent the start of a trend and the end of an era in Toledo high school basketball.
Are players like William Buford and Zia Cooke — five-star prospects who played their entire prep careers in the Glass City — going to prove the last of their kind?
Or are we reading too much into a confluence of unique situations?
Your guess is as good as mine.
But if Toledo is a snapshot of the country, this is more than a fad.
Scan the lists of blue-chip recruits these days, and you'll see more members of an academy than at the Oscars. In last year's Rivals.com rankings, I counted as many top-100 boys as not who graduated from sports-oriented prep schools, including Jackson, who played his final year at powerhouse Montverde Academy in Florida.
"It's an interesting topic because these [moves] are popping up," Toledo Public Schools Superintendent Romules Durant said. "At the end of the day, if people start getting into this narrative, they could end up following along."
Selfishly, let's hope not.
Like I wrote when Jackson transferred from Maumee Valley, these early departures are no doubt a hit to our civic hoops pride, as they are for any community when one of their brightest goes to a far-off high school.
It doesn't have to be this way. Just look at Cooke, who became the latest homegrown star to prove you can achieve anything right here in Toledo, leading Rogers to a pair of state titles before becoming one of the top college players in the country at South Carolina.
How cool would it be if Easter — who lives in the Springfield school district — follows suit and becomes the next local prep legend?
But, regardless, we'll wish him the best.
No matter your opinion, these are not our lives and decisions to judge.
My only question is a big-picture one: Are the benefits of these prep schools really worth the squeeze?
I don't ask that dismissively. These basketball finishing schools — beckoning with the promise of a college-style experience, splashy facilities, and national competition — seem like a great opportunity. I'm just curious if the imitation of the college experience is worth the trade-off of the actual high school one.
Ultimately, there's no right answer, every scenario different.
For the firsthand perspective, I reached out to Zeb Jackson, Sr.
From the outside, it's natural to wonder what his son gained by playing his final year in Florida, given that he was already a four-star recruit committed to Michigan. Jackson gave up a real chance to be Ohio's Mr. Basketball to play an off-the-bench role at Montverde, which was stacked with five five-star prospects, including guard Cade Cunningham, the top player in the 2020 class and likely top pick in the 2021 NBA draft.
Regrets, surely he had a few.
Actually, no, according to Zeb, Sr. He said his son embraced the iron-against-iron competition, matured away from home, and made good friends.
"Their practices were tougher than games," he said. "Game time was nothing for them. ... That part was good. The hard coaching was good. It was more than just going there and playing basketball. It was going there to learn and grow. We would definitely do it all over again."
The VanSlooten family heard similarly positive reviews of the prep-school experience from one of Grace's AAU teammates, who plays at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla. Grace, a 6-3 forward ranked by ESPN as the No. 16 prospect in the nation in the 2022 class, is leaving Notre Dame Academy to join her for their senior seasons.
The family is clear-eyed about what Grace is forgoing, including graduating with her friends and the opportunity to lead Notre Dame to a state title.
"Kind of gut wrenching," said her father, Jon VanSlooten.
But Grace called the prospect of an immersive basketball experience at a world-class complex an opportunity that "I shouldn't pass up." A typical day at IMG — where tuition for one year of boarding runs $68,500 (most athletes receive significant aid) — features classes from 7:45 a.m. to 12:20 p.m., then practice and training much of the rest of the day.
"We've gotten some criticism, you know, 'What's the point? She's already highly recruited,'" Jon VanSlooten said. "It has nothing to do with that. ... Grace loves basketball and loves challenging herself and getting our of her comfort zone."
Fair enough, no?
But, again, they certainly don't owe us an explanation.
Nor will the great Toledo players who defy the trend and stay right here.
"As coaches, we're going to have to amp it up," said Lamar Smith, who coached Zia Cooke and many other college-bound players at Rogers. "Our job is to challenge our players and challenge our schedules to ... make them want to stay home. We have a lot of work to do because it's getting to be a thing now and kids like to follow the trend.
"Every kid's situation is different. It worked for Zia to stay here, let me coach her, and finish her four years here, and that's special. You can get it done either way and it shows."
