Editor’s Note: This story is the second installment of a series spotlighting the trends in the Big Sky Conference, the challenges of playing in a mid-major league and profiling six of the premier guards in the conference. For the first installment, click here
In Arlington, Texas, where Jeremy Senglin grew up, football is the undisputed king. Arlington, a suburb of Dallas, is a few hours northeast of Austin and a few more hours northwest of Houston, forming a football-crazed triangle home to the Texas Longhorns, Houston Cougars, Baylor Bears, Texas A&M Aggies and the state’s two NFL teams. Little boys are raised to pass and catch footballs, not shoot 3-pointers. And for a time, Senglin was caught up in it the demand for football players.
“Growing up football was my No. 1 sport,” said the Weber State senior, who played quarterback and safety.
But as he grew up — or better yet didn’t grow up in comparison to some of the physical specimens the state produces — Senglin gravitated away from the gridiron and onto the hardwood. By the time he was approaching his teenage years there was something about basketball that consumed his mind and persuaded him to give up football following his freshman year at Arlington’s James Bowie High.
Former Weber State forward Joel Bolomboy (21)
There was something about the game that Senglin took a liking to. He quickly became one of the better players in the Dallas area and joined an AAU team that included a tall, athletic yet raw big man named Joel Bolomboy.
“When he first got here, he was extremely raw,” Weber State head coach Randy Rahe told Skyline Sports last season. “He could always rebound but his feel for the game wasn’t very good, his skill level wasn’t very good, he didn’t really understand how to play.”
Weber had been in Texas recruiting for some time by then, but Bolomboy kept them coming back to the Lone Star State to see if they could steal this potential gem. Weber coaches saw his AAU team play over and over and each time they saw Bolomboy, they got to see Senglin too. As one of the better players in the Dallas area, Senglin joined Texas Select and played alongside Bolomboy, giving Weber’s coaches a front row seat to a pairing they thought could continue the Wildcats’ reputation as the Big Sky Conference’s best program. Weber was coming to the end of the Damian Lillard era and it needed a guard to fill in for the future NBA All-Star.
“The first thing that stood out to me is he’s got a high-level motor,” Rahe said of Senglin. “I could tell by watching he’s very tough and very competitive and he played to win. Some kids are out there playing for themselves, he was always playing to try to win the game.”
Rahe and his staff did their part to get Bolomboy to Ogden, and they had begun their work to get Senglin to join his former teammate in Utah. But as they worked the phones and text messages and developed a strong bond with the 6-2 guard and his family, Senglin kept getting better and better. By his senior year, he was the fourth leading scorer in the Dallas area. Colorado State, Nebraska, TCU, Tulane and Tulsa among others were trying to get Senglin to be a part of their programs.
Weber State senior guard Jeremy Senglin (30)
“If you’re gonna get a higher-level kid than you should, you have to find him early, get on him early, develop that relationship with him so you get that trust,” Rahe said. “Then the bigger schools come in later on him. You hope that you have a good enough and strong enough relationship with him where there is that trust factor and they feel more comfortable being with you than some of the bigger schools.”
Senglin took his official visit to Weber and found that he was more comfortable with the coaches who first expressed interest in him than he was with the ones who later came calling. And Weber found that Senglin fit into the culture they were trying to build. In September of his senior season at Bowie, Senglin told the other schools that his recruitment was over, he was going to Weber.
“They seemed like they cared and I knew I could do a lot coming here for the program and for myself,” Senglin said.
The transition from high school ball in Texas to college ball wasn’t easy. Senglin called that first summer away from home the toughest of his life. He wasn’t ready for the pace or for the demands made of him on the defensive side of the court. But he quickly adapted to life in college and to the faster, more physical college game. In his first outing, Senglin became the first true freshman to start for Weber in almost 40 years and scored 14 points against in-state rival BYU. He finished the year averaging more than 10 points per game and shooting better than 40 percent from beyond the 3-point line. Coaches took notice and awarded him the Big Sky’s Freshman of the Year award.
By all estimations, Senglin was a natural scoring guard. He could hit from the outside, or he could get into the lane. He could hit step-backs or he could drive to the rim and finish with contact. Since stepping onto the court for Weber that fall of 2013, Senglin has never averaged less than 10 points per game. But as a typically happens with a freshman, Senglin was often more consumed with what he was doing as opposed to how he was affecting his teammates. As a sophomore, Weber was going to need him to do more. They needed a leader, somebody who could rally the rest of the players and raise their level of play.
Weber State senior guard Jeremy Senglin (30)
“We really asked him to do that as a sophomore and get out of his comfort zone and dive into the team and be more concerned with bringing guys with you and getting them better and making them feel your confidence in them,” Rahe said. “He plays so hard and is a big player and cares so much about winning and team — much more than he does about himself — that it was natural for him to step up and become that leader for us.”
Senglin was moved away from his natural off-guard position and asked to run the offense. His transition to point guard wasn’t quick, but with every game Rahe says Senglin made progress. Despite Senglin’s work at the point, Weber season was up and down, and on Feb. 12, the night the Wildcats lost to Southern Utah and Senglin broke his jaw, Weber was just 5-5 in conference. He missed more than a month with the injury, returning to action in the conference tournament and scored 25 points in the first round but the performance was not enough to take down top-seeded Montana in Missoula.
His junior year, the last playing with his former AAU teammate, provided Senglin his first All-Big Sky first team selection and got him and Weber back to the NCAA tournament. He moved back to his off-ball spot and scored 627 points, the eighth-best single-season total in school history. While he wasn’t playing point much anymore, Rahe said Senglin’s brief time at the 1 made him a better basketball player.
“It already has helped Jeremy become a better player because he sees the game different playing two different positions,” Rahe said. “He learned more about the game and understands how to play the game better.”
Weber State guard senior Jeremy Senglin (30)
It’s also helped that Senglin is a relentless worker. Some weeks in the offseason he remains in the gym until he makes 600 jumpers. Other weeks, he’ll reduce the load, but he averages somewhere around 400 makes every day he isn’t in season. Those step-back threes he makes look like a set shot are the product of his desire to be great.
He no longer has Bolomboy by his side during this final season in Ogden. And there are some who think he has a chance to move onto the NBA. If he doesn’t do that, there are surely teams in Europe in need of a high-scoring guard who can also run an offense. All of that, however, is unknown and won’t start to come into focus for months. In the meantime, Senglin’s concentration is much more narrow.
“Just winning is my main goal right now,” Senglin said with Weber State 4-6 with one more non-conference game remaining. “If we’re doing that then personal goals and other goals for myself will come along. But right now I’m just focused on winning with my team.”
Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
