MARION (WSIL) -- Jackson Connor graduates Marion High School with a record breaking career. He is the school's all-time leading scorer with 2,018 points. He had a handful of division one offers, including offers from SIUE, EIU, Austin Peay and Idaho, but in the end Connor decided it was in his best interest to sign with John A. Logan.
"Way things have been going, the past couple of years and the success they've had and they guys they've sent places, I think it's a clear decision and without being able to take any visits right now there'd be a question if that would be a right fit. I just wanted to take some time and stay home because I'm comfortable with that," Jackson Connor said.
"When you find a kid that finds a fork in the road when it's not working out the way they wanted, they decide there's another path, they can go down this road and still get where they want to go I've always been very appreciative of that from the standpoint of a person knowing going this route gives me the opportunity at becoming of what I expect of myself," John A. Logan Basketball Head Coach Kyle Smithpeters said.
Marion Coach Gus Gillespie has watched Jackson's maturation from his sophomore year to his senior season. Player development will continue to be a focus at the next level.
"The part of Jackson that impressed me the most is his maturity. I got to watch what I cal a boy grow into a man," Gillespie said.
"Player development is big and that's really big right now so just development in my game is big and I think they are going to be the best help with that," Connor said.
"He's got a lot of ability, a lot of upside and the biggest thing I liked of Jackson is he's willing to go out every single day that I saw him and work extremely hard. More times than not he'd do it with a smile on his face, he enjoys what he does," Smithpeters said.
A sign of his character was evident down the stretch. Jackson eventually broke Greg Starrick's scoring record but was always focused on his team.
"Very impressed with that," Gillespie said. "You had the weight of the the regional at Marion. You had 4, 5 games left, him to get so many points so we never really addressed that until the last two weeks of the season. He handled it with class, he handled it with his great composure and again for an 18 year old kid and down the stretch to handle it with that maturity was very impressive."
Jackson is ready to get to work and take his game to the next level.
"Practicing against some of the top players, that's going to push you, sitting down and guarding quicker guys every day," Connor said. "Guarding stronger guys, that's going to make you quicker, that's going to make your first step quicker. When guarding the ball, it's going to make you stronger and when you are doing that in practice every day and when you come into a game it makes it that much easier after practicing day in day out."
"I think there's a lot of potential in that body and I think he's only scratching the surface of where he could be," Smithpeters said.
