It’s hard to believe a sophomore could be one of the leaders of a varsity basketball team, but that’s the case in Petal.
Sophomore Treylan Smith has been a member of the Panthers’ team since his eighth-grade season and became a starter by the halfway point when the calendar turned from 2015 to 2016. Now, he’s in the odd circumstance where his teammates will look to him to help lead this team to success at a young age.
Looking up at Smith, the 6-foot-4 guard doesn’t resemble a sophomore in high school, and Smith definitely doesn’t feel like one.
“It’s funny because just a minute ago coach was like, ‘No underclassmen,’ and I really don’t feel like an underclassman,” Smith said last week before an afternoon practice. “I feel kind of like a junior or a senior because of the experience I have. I’m glad I got to have that experience because I get to share it with people in my grade, help them out and guide them through what I went through at an earlier age.”
Smith has a chance to be a five-year starter when his career at Petal is complete, but he still has three more seasons left in the uniform before that happens. As an eighth-grader, he averaged seven points and four rebounds a game, then he followed that season up with an 11-point, six-rebound season as a freshman.
There were some growing pains as an eighth-grader on the varsity time, and let’s be honest, there still is as a sophomore at times. Nothing can replace that experience, though.
“It was very frustrating, but I knew I had something to prove,” Smith said. “I didn’t want my teammates say, ‘Why did coach bring him up? He’s just in eighth grade.’ I didn’t want that excuse. I wanted to actually be like, ‘OK, I’m up here for a reason and I’m fixing to handle business.’ I missed some of my friends a lot, but I realized, in the long run, it’ll help me out.”
Smith will be asked to do a lot this season for Petal, and he’s ready for the challenge. He said he’s versatile enough to play any spot on the floor, and in fact, he’s learning what every position does on every play the Panthers run.
He wants to get his teammates involved, too, but Smith can get to the basket quickly. When defenders try to crowd the lanes, he can pull up for a jumper with ease. His decision-making with the ball is one of his strongest attributes, Smith says, and his defense, whether it’s off the ball or while guarding the ball-handler, is where he wants to improve his game the most.
First-year Petal coach Todd Kimble saw Smith play for the first time in an all-star game at Pearl River Community College during the offseason, and he says Smith has come a long way since.
“Just watching him play, he just wasn’t there yet,” Kimble said. “It took him a while, the way we were practicing, to get his motor running. That was the biggest thing. I don’t think his motor ever ran.”
Kimble is really impressed with Smith as a 10th-grader, though, he added.
The Panthers lost 6-foot-9 forward Tirus Smith, Treylan’s brother, to graduation last season, as Tirus prepares for his freshman season at UTEP, but Kimble likes his team’s size and the players he has returning.
Senior 6-foot-3 guard Mykah Brown will run the point, Kimble said, and senior Matt Butler, senior TJ Henly and junior Donoval Avila were three other names who will see valuable playing time.
“All of them bring something different to the table,” he said.
Smith’s expectations are sky-high, too. He knows it might be a little far-fetched, but Smith likes what he sees in practice every day.
“I want to be a state champion,” he said. “I know many people would probably laugh, but I feel like with the guys we have and the type of heart they have, because every time we step out on the court, we give everything we have, 110 percent.”
