Jessee Wallis
Jessee Wallis has power in her game as well as a lethal jumper. *Photo by Ty Freeman.
Editor’s Note: In Focus is a special feature that serves to highlight Social Media Exposure Program (SMP) Members background as a student-athlete. This feature gives perspective on where the prospect has come from and where she is going.
Jessee Wallis’ first visit to the Elite Basketball Academy left her with a lasting message. “Brandon (Clay) told the camp ‘If you are around people that are not trying to make you better, then you are around the wrong people,’” she recalled.
Jessee Wallis at EBA Camp in 2016.
*Photo by Ty Freeman.Since that moment in March of 2014, Wallis, from Dayton, Tenn., has been purposeful about who she would choose to include in her inner circle – her travel coach Roy Pankey and training partner Blake McCloud, two of the biggest influences in her development, are in that group. Pankey not only guided Wallis through the rigors of the travel circuit, but also acted as leadership figure in her life. Whereas McCloud, who went on to play basketball at Tennessee Wesleyan, is thought of as a brother.
The end result of the training, competition and endless amount of travel for Wallis is a player who is rated as a 3-star prospect by ProspectsNation.com. Her high energy attitude and ability to make shots have earned her high praise from a number of evaluators.
“Wallis is a shooting specialist who has developed her overall game. She played physically and with toughness during games today. She even backed down a smaller opponent, which is an impressive skill for a perimeter shooter.” -- Stephen Peck, National Evaluator
Wallis points to a single moment where the trajectory of her game changed. Her sophomore year at Rhea County included a postseason match-up with Bradley Central that featured University of Florida signee Brooke Copeland. Wallis and her Rhea County teammates saw their season end by way of one of the top teams in the State of Tennessee that year.
“Brooke set the bar for what a ball player was supposed to look like,” Wallis said. “In Rhea County we did not have a tradition of girls basketball players who went on to play college basketball. After that game I knew I wanted to be a college ball player. Brooke was going to be the standard that I would measure myself against.”
Brooke Copeland at the 2014 EBA Top
40 Workout. *Photo by Ty FreemanWallis’ desire to mimic Copeland spared no detail.
“I talked to (Bradley Central’s head) coach Rueter and copied Brooke’s workout routine,” Wallis said. “I tried to model everything I did after Brooke, even down to the Nike headband.”
Soon thereafter Wallis would compete alongside of Copeland at the inaugural EBA Top 40 Camp in March of 2014. Since then Wallis has competed at a number of EBA events as well as at a few CoachHemi.com Showcases in the recent years.
Wallis has picked up an array of interest, which includes several D-2 offers and interest from D-1 programs in the past 12 months.
“I am looking for a program that has a team first mentality. Also education is very important to me,” Wallis said. “I have interests in nursing, media and journalism.”
A few weeks ago she took an official visit to Rider University in Lawrenceville, N.J. While she has not set a destination as of yet for next season, she does know what she is looking for in a school and that process continues this spring.
Jonathan Hemingway is the Assistant Director of Scouting for the JumpOffPlus.com National Scouting Report, is on the Naismith Trophy Board of Selectors and owns CoachHemi.com, the go-to source for coaches for X’s and O’s. He is the floor director of #TeamEBA camps, a site director for #TeamPSB tournaments and can be reached at jonathanhemingway@peachstatebasketball.com.
