Buff athlete opens up
Colorado Buffaloes junior forward Jermyl Jackson-Wilson may not fill up the scoreboard with points, but the kind of attitude he exhibits on and off the court is important for a young Buffs team to have around, first-year head coach Jeff Bzdelik said.
“Here’s a young man who’s undersized playing the position he’s playing, and has some limited skill,” Bzdelik said. “But there are no limits on his heart, his passion or his work ethic.”
Jackson-Wilson, who has played in all 23 of the Buffs’ games this season, averaging 4.2 rebounds and 4.5 points per game, said his favorite thing about playing basketball is the competition.
“No matter who a team is, no matter how big or small you are, you can always go out there and compete,” Jackson-Wilson said. “Once you’re out there between those lines, it’s man against man, team against team.”
Jackson-Wilson said he focuses on playing as hard as he can every night, and he tries to do all the little things that need to be done for a basketball team to succeed.
“I think my role on the court is to provide energy,” Jackson-Wilson said. “I go out there and play however many minutes coach gives me and try to do whatever it is he needs me to do – hustle, rebounding, defense, whatever.”
Living up to his reputation as a hard worker, Jackson-Wilson has played the last four games injured.
Jackson-Wilson sprained the meniscus in his left knee against Iowa State when fellow teammate Richard Roby fell into it. Jackson-Wilson said the injury bothered him a lot, but it was not enough to keep him off the court.
“Our trainers put a knee brace on me and strapped some tape on it,” Jackson-Wilson said. “Just get me back out there.”
Bzdelik said he has been impressed by Jackson-Wilson’s toughness.
“He’s worked very hard in his rehab to come back and play as early as he did,” Bzdelik said. “The doctors were amazed, but he’s healthy enough to play, and he’s out there diving on the floor and doing whatever he can to help.”
Jackson-Wilson said he believes the 10-13 Buffaloes are a much better team than their record suggests.
“We were in some games that we should have won,” Jackson-Wilson said. “But we don’t have to try to salvage the season or think that it’s over. We just need to try to win the rest of our games and show people we’re a great team.”
Though he is all hustle on the court, Jackson-Wilson said in the locker room he is not the kind of player that tells his teammates what they should be doing or gives speeches to fire the team up.
“I’m pretty quiet, and I’m not the most serious guy,” Jackson-Wilson said. “I can be serious when I need to be, but I try to provide a couple laughs when I can.”
Jackson-Wilson’s roommate Marcus Hall, a senior guard for the Buffs, said Jackson-Wilson is a lot of fun to be around and regularly provides more than a couple of laughs.
“He has a crazy personality,” Hall said. “He’s going to be himself; you can always rely on that. He’s just a great guy.”
After graduating from Rufus King High School in his native Milwaukee, Jackson-Wilson made several stops on his way to playing basketball for CU.
Jackson-Wilson spent a post-graduate year at Fork Union Military Academy in Virginia before he moved on to play basketball for the Ohio State Buckeyes.
Jackson-Wilson said he was not very happy with his situation at top-ranked Ohio State, so he transferred to CU.
The transition to CU was an easy one because he had originally committed to play basketball at the university out of high school before he decided to spend a year at a preparatory school, Jackson Wilson said.
He was not allowed to play his first season at CU because of NCAA transfer regulations.
Now, at 22-years-old, Jackson-Wilson is only in his third year of college basketball eligibility, and he said he will graduate from CU in December with a degree in ethnic studies.
However, Jackson-Wilson said he intends to continue his academic career next year at CU, which will allow him to play out his final year of eligibility.
Jackson-Wilson said he is considering several different options for next year, from pursuing a graduate degree in ethnic studies or law to picking up another undergraduate major, possibly sociology or theater.
Jackson-Wilson said acting in movies is more appealing to him than plays.
“If I could get on the big screen that would be great,” Jackson-Wilson said.
Jackson-Wilson was also recently selected to the Winter Sports Good Works Team by the Big 12 Conference for his community service and good academic standing.
Bzdelik said he has been consistently impressed by Jackson-Wilson’s dedication, work ethic and effort both on the basketball court and in the classroom.
“He’s very intelligent,” Bzdelik said. “He gives our team everything he has, and he gives this school everything he has.”
Contact Campus Press Staff Writer Brad Cochi at Bradley.Cochi@thecampuspress.com.
