Winthrop lands second basketball commitment for 2010

By Gary McCann - gmccann@heraldonliine.com

Winthrop University has picked up its second basketball commitment for 2010-11, getting 6-5, 190-pound wing player Joab “Joey” Jerome from Wheeler High School in Marietta, Ga.

Jerome joins 6-9 Martaveous Smith out of Burke County High School in Waynesboro, Ga. who committed to coach Randy Peele in July.

Jerome started for the first time last season for coach Doug Lipscomb and was part of a Wheeler team that went 25-7 and won the Class AAAAA state title, the school’s fourth state championship this decade. Wheeler, perhaps the premier program in Georgia, was ranked among the top 10 in a couple of national prep polls last season.

Jerome came to Wheeler after moving to Marietta from Brooklyn, N.Y. where he played two seasons but did not start at Xaverian High School.

Lipscomb calls Jerome a “very versatile player.”

“He played the one and two for us and some three,” Lipscomb said. “He’s very fundamentally sound, can guard and will battle on the boards. He’s a very good team player and very good kid.”

Lipscomb didn’t have the exact numbers but said Jerome averaged “around 10 points and six rebounds” on a team that sent 6-7 forward Richard Howell to N.C. State and 6-7 Ari Stewart to Wake Forest.

“This is a win-win for both,” Lipscomb said. “Joey has selected a good school and Winthrop has got a good player.”

Jerome also played AAU basketball for his uncle, Des Eastman, who coaches the Worldwide Renegades, a program that has produced the likes of Jamareo Davidson and J.J. Hickson. Eastman said Jerome would rank “just below” those type players in terms of overall ability, but “in terms of basketball IQ, he’s up there.”

The Winthrop coaching staff first saw Jerome last summer in AAU ball.

“He’s the glue to any team he plays on,” Eastman said. “He can defend anyone from one to four, he’ll sacrifice his body for the team. He’s a great team player. He can score, but he’s very unselfish.”

One of the selling points for Winthrop, Eastman said, was a chance to log some playing time as a freshman. Winthrop loses small forwards Mantoris Robinson and Raymond Davis after the coming season and has only 6-7 redshirt freshman Gideon Gamble back at that position for 2010-11.

Jerome could be a Robinson-type defender with more scoring ability.

“He’s really started to come into his own the last couple of years,” Eastman said, “and I think he’ll be able to help Winthrop as a freshman while learning their system.”

According to Eastman, Jerome had offers from Murray State, Mercer, Georgia State, Chattanooga, Appalachian State and UNC Greensboro.

By NCAA rule, Winthrop coaches are not allowed to discuss recruits until they have signed national letters of intent. Jerome is expected to sign during the early signing period in November. The Eagles are expected to add one more player to the 2010 incoming class.