“I’m living my dream”- an Interview With Central Michigan University-Bound Point Guard Jorddan Myrick

If you’ve lived in West Michigan at any point in the last two or three years and pay any attention to high school basketball, then you have heard the name Jorddan Myrick. Jorddan has had an incredible year, despite his team’s lack of success. WMA decided to sit down with the West Ottawa point guard, Jorddan Myrick who also plans to attend Central Michigan University on a four-year athletic scholarship next season.

The first thing to come to mind when you see the 5’11″ 160 lbs senior point guard is quite simple, he appears as if he’s just a normal high school student. Then it hits you. This is the kid you read about in the local paper after every game. And the kid you see running the offense for the varsity basketball team. That’s when you realize. This is Jorddan Myrick. While Jorddan may come off as your “average” student in high school, he is anything but. Myrick is the star of the basketball team and has a D1 scholarship. Many people would assume that since he’s a star athlete he would be egotistical, however they are dead wrong.

Jorddan Myrick is as modest an athlete as you will find. Myrick is so modest because, well, he’s just trying to fit in. He’s so modest it even took a little coaxing just to get an “I’m living my dream” out of him. Ever since Jorddan was a little kid he’s dreamed of getting a D1 scholarship and he accomplished that dream his sophomore year. Jorddan was in Chicago for an AAU tournament when Central Michigan first approached him. Shortly thereafter Central Michigan offered Jorddan a full scholarship to play basketball for them. “It’s like a home away from home” said Myrick when asked as to why he decided on Central Michigan after receiving interest from other schools such as Dayton and the University of Michigan. Myrick has proven to those in the basketball world that he is capable of two completely different roles on the court.

Jorddan Myrick has had to play with more of a scorer’s mentality rather than a distributor mentality while playing in high school this year. Myrick is averaging right around 19.8 ppg or 36.7% of his team’s points per game. There have been times this year when Jorddan has over 50% of the team’s points. This is not what you would expect out of your point guard. While basketball is a team sport sometimes star players have to take over games and that’s what Myrick has done this year. This ability may end up being key at the next level. It has already proven key in high school as he has been named to our all star team. Jorddan has also displayed that he can play another style of basketball, he can play as a distributor. While watching Jorddan in AAU it is obvious he is the point guard, as he racks up assist after assist. He showed this ability in AAU and this is a huge part of why he received an athletic scholarship from Central Michigan.

Offense isn’t the only strength for Jorddan. Jorddan is one of West Ottawa’s better defenders. He is second on the team in steals per game at 1.6, and is second on the team for defensive rebounding. Granted West Ottawa lacks a true big man, Jorddan has stepped it up on the defensive glass despite being only 5’11”. Jorddan was deeply inspired by the on court actions of one of the NBA’s finest, Allen Iverson.

When speaking with Jorddan about some of the NBA greats, his eyes still light up like it is Christmas morning. One of Jorddan’s favorite memories of Allen Iverson is the nasty crossover he used on perhaps the best player of all time, Michael Jordan in 1997. I must admit Jorddan does have a nasty crossover, but his true strength on offense is his driving capabilities. Jorddan executes excellent body control when driving to the hoop and does a solid job of drawing the foul. But Jorddan knows that there is still a lot he has to work on.

The two biggest knocks on Jorddan early on were his strength and his jump shot. He admits that as recently as his sophomore year he didn’t know much about lifting weights but has recently kicked it up a notch with his AAU coach. Just like one of his idols, Derrick Rose, Jorddan has spent some serious time working on his shooting. Jorddan has shown some great improvement in that area and his hard work is indeed paying off. Jorddan is shooting 34% from three and 46% from two. Just like his idols. Jorddan wishes to play after college. Jorddan expressed a surprisingly deep interest in playing professional basketball overseas whether in Europe, South America, China, or the Middle East. And assuming he follows his own advice, he definitely has a shot at making it.

“My advice would be just to work hard in everything you do, defense, offense, play with emotion every night. Leave it all out on the court every night. Whether it’s AAU or high school…hard work can take you a long way.” Said Myrick when asked about what he would advise young athletes to do. Jorddan plans to help young athletes do just that by helping out his former AAU team, the Grand Rapids Storm this spring/summer. Myrick however, still has some unfinished business here in West Michigan.

Jorddan Myrick has never won a district championship. The Panthers were able to advance to the second round last year but fell short. This year they are hosting districts and happen to be clicking as a team right now under Jorddan’s leadership. This could be the perfect storm and may result in West Ottawa and Jorddan Myrick shocking West Michigan in districts. As badly as Jorddan wants this he understands a wonderful situation is awaiting him at Central Michigan.

The Chippewas won back-to-back MAC West championships in 2009 and 2010; Central Michigan is currently sitting in third place this season. As Jorddan has said, Central Michigan is still lacking a true point guard and he feels he can fill that void if he works hard enough. This competent young man understands that while he may be one of the best players in Central’s recruiting class this year, that doesn’t mean everything is going to be handed to him. Jorddan understands that in order to make an impact at Central Michigan he will need to work incredibly hard.  Because he has already “bought into” Central’s style of play and Head Coach Ernie Zeigler’s emotional style of coaching, it will be much easier for him to work hard than for the average freshman. Not only is Jorddan excited to play at the next level he is excited to play there for awhile. He plans to be one of the ever-so-underrated four year players in college.

In summary, Jorddan is an excellent individual with a hunger to win and the motivation to work hard in order to succeed.  Myrick will definitely be someone to follow as the playoffs start for high school basketball in the state of Michigan, as well as when he’s playing at Central Michigan.

Be sure to continue to check our website as we cover high school basketball playoffs in West Michigan and as we follow Jorddan over the course of the next couple of years. Remember to “like” us on facebook in order to receive updates about our coverage. We appreciate your support as well as your criticism which you can display by commenting in the comments section below.