JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Going from a 7-21 basketball record to a 21-8 record landed six William Raines High School seniors college scholarships to showcase their talents at the collegiate level.
“I told them to trust the process,” Basketball coach Torien Moore said. “It’s going to be a long process. Everybody’s expecting us to fail. So we got to trust each other trust in the system, trusting the coaches and trusting everybody around us.”
Moore said he doesn’t know what other coaches do for their players, but as for him, he goes “above and beyond” to make sure his players are prepared.
“I give them the exposure. Here at Raines, you’re gonna get a tough schedule. You’re gonna get exposure. You’re gonna get college opportunities.”
Zion Kemp, the team’s small forward, is one of the seniors taking his talents to Clinton College.
“I was feeling jittery and proud of myself because they just went from not getting any to getting a lot,” Kemp said about his offer.
Dwayne Kemp, Zion’s father, is a proud dad.
“I have two other sons that were really good and Zion didn’t care about basketball. He just said, ‘Dad, I’m ready to play.’ And I said, ‘Stop playing. You know how I am stop playing with me. He has only been playing for four years. He started the summer of his 8th-grade year and ended up with a scholarship,” Dwyane said.
Jeremiah White is the team’s point guard. He said it meant a lot to have the opportunity to play at Paine College.
“Growing up, I put my mind to it that I wanted to do it and I wanted to get that but as I was growing up it was a long process. Me telling myself I’m not going to give up and having the support feels good that I finally got it,” White said.