All Things Jarvis Omersa Recruitment Thread UPDATED: OMERSA A GOPHER!

BleedGopher

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 11, 2008
Messages
60,566
Reaction score
15,640
Points
113
per Marcus:

Watching the Howard Pulley Panthers this weekend in Maple Grove you might notice a 6-foot-9 former Gophers player in the crowd cheering on Jarvis Thomas.

Thomas, an explosive junior forward at Orono High School, got cut from a team at 13 years old. He couldn’t even dunk when he first met Jonathan Williams, who played for the Gophers from 2005-09. He thought about quitting the sport to focus on football.

But after Williams started working with him in St. Paul in the eighth grade, it wasn’t long before he was playing with more confidence and eventually playing above the rim, too.

"He's been a great influence," Thomas said. "He's kind of what got me started in this whole thing. Coach Jon wouldn't let me quit. He just kept working with me. We always did workouts -- and the rest is history."

Thomas is one of the fastest rising prospects not just in Minnesota but the entire country in the 2018 class. Videos of him soaring and slamming alley-oops and putbacks have been all over social media this spring from his AAU season.

“I thought he had a lot of potential,” Williams said. “Over time, he’s developed into a hell of a basketball player. It’s all deserving of him. He’s a rebounder, shot blocker and a junkyard dog. With his athleticism running the floor and being that work horse – you can get endless things out of him.”

The Gophers haven’t offered Thomas a scholarship yet, but they’ve shown more interest lately. So have schools like Xavier, Butler, Florida, Michigan and Michigan State, he says. It likely won’t be long before his major conference offers list expands from Pittsburgh and Texas A&M at this point.

http://www.startribune.com/ex-gophe...omas-turn-into-a-high-major-talent/423223683/

Go Gophers!!
 

<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Go Gophers!!
 

<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Go Gophers!!
 

<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Go Gophers!!
 

Seriously need to offer Jarvis. He might lack certain skills, but he is one of the top athletes in the class. I could see him having a nice 4 year college basketball career and then getting some interest from some NFL teams as a tight end.

Sent from my LGL41C using Tapatalk
 


Seriously need to offer Jarvis. He might lack certain skills, but he is one of the top athletes in the class. I could see him having a nice 4 year college basketball career and then getting some interest from some NFL teams as a tight end.

Sent from my LGL41C using Tapatalk

What are his weaknesses?

From the above story it sounds like he is a rebounder/shot blocker/defender but maybe doesn't have a developed offensive game.
 


That would seem to be a weakness

Obviously. My only knowledge of this kid comes from the Gopherhole article and the above videos where he is dunking. Jonathan Williams described him as a shotblocker/rebounder/junkyard dog so I am wondering if by omission that means offense is his weakness. DeathClutch said he is "lacking certain skills" and I was asking for him to specify what those skills are.
 

Would we take both Race and Jarvis? Are we holding off on offering Jarvis until Race makes a decision? I'd take a shot-blocking, rebounding, defensive menace on my team any year.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 



Would we take both Race and Jarvis? Are we holding off on offering Jarvis until Race makes a decision? I'd take a shot-blocking, rebounding, defensive menace on my team any year.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Would you at the expense of one that can score as well?
 

Obviously. My only knowledge of this kid comes from the Gopherhole article and the above videos where he is dunking. Jonathan Williams described him as a shotblocker/rebounder/junkyard dog so I am wondering if by omission that means offense is his weakness. DeathClutch said he is "lacking certain skills" and I was asking for him to specify what those skills are.

Well you nailed it. Offense is his big weakness. He's an athlete that scores on dunks and in transition, very little of a post game and isn't a 4 that can step out and knock down jumpers.
 

Obviously. My only knowledge of this kid comes from the Gopherhole article and the above videos where he is dunking. Jonathan Williams described him as a shotblocker/rebounder/junkyard dog so I am wondering if by omission that means offense is his weakness. DeathClutch said he is "lacking certain skills" and I was asking for him to specify what those skills are.

A little undersized as a 4 and can't shoot AT ALL.

I'm not a huge fan of Thomas but he's a great athlete.
 

Jonathan Williams was terrible offensively. Dunks, rebounds, blocked shots...that was his game as well. thomas looks undersized but has time to grow
 



Well you nailed it. Offense is his big weakness. He's an athlete that scores on dunks and in transition, very little of a post game and isn't a 4 that can step out and knock down jumpers.

Thanks for the clarification. I'd like to see some sign that he can develop an offensive game or keeps on growing...seems like Pitino could probably grab a better prospect from out of state.
 

Interested in this kid ! I wish Gabe and Race would start making decisions. I love kids that can play with a junk yard dog mentality u need these guys on a team.
 

Interested in this kid ! I wish Gabe and Race would start making decisions. I love kids that can play with a junk yard dog mentality u need these guys on a team.

I'd bet that Race knows what he wants to do. Just hasn't said it.
 

Would you at the expense of one that can score as well?

I've never seen Jarvis play so I'm only going off of what others have reported regarding his strengths and weaknesses. If we can only have one of the two, I would go with the guy that has the better offensive game in Race but if we can take both, we certainly can use Jarvis' athleticism, rebounding and shot blocking. Miles Tarver couldn't hit the broad side of Williams Arena but he did manage to make a lot of "winning" plays that helped the team. Screw the Fab Five and their ankle scratching shorts:

C Daniel Oturu
F Jarvis Johnson
F Race Thompson
G Gabe Kalscheur
G Tre Jones
 

I have only seen Jarvis play twice so this scouting report isn't the be all and end all, but i was impressed enough to want to see more. The first game I watched on Saturday he had a 5 or 6 possession stretch where he had 4 or 5 lob dunks and the one possession that wasn't was because he was too gassed to get up for one more. It was about a minute and a half of steal, dunk, steal, dunk etc for Pulley. Couldn't really tell much from Jarvis or Gabe about how they defend or face adversity because it was a 50 point game. Gabe shot well, Jarvis dunked well and I kind of knew that coming in.
Sunday the Run GMC team from Kansas City made them work for it. Oturu got in early foul trouble and couldn't seem to get past the fact that he didn't get every call so Tre took over. Very Tyus like in that he does whatever the team needs to do to win. Gabe shot poorly but in the second half they switched him onto Run GMC's quick 5' 8" ish point guard and made him guard the ball and he did fine. Used his body on a smaller kid like you should. Making him play D in the second half got him past a young kids inclination to pout when shooting poorly and then he made a 3 or two down the stretch and made his free throws. Pulley did post up Jarvis a couple of times even though he didn't have much of an size advantage over his defender. He used a nice tight spin move a couple of times but basically spun into traffic because Oturu was too close so his defender was there waiting. Jarvis played extremely hard though, contesting everything and tipping what he couldn't corral. Showed good leadership- setting up matchups and communicating. Athletically he had a missed dunk on Sunday that was as good as it gets. I thought the pass was going to turn into a bustout the other way and he went high enough to get it but then hit it off the back of the rim.

Side note- saw Amir Coffey and Jarvis Johnson there on Saturday and Amir was there again on Sunday and i was on the wrong end of the gym to get a good look but if Jamir Harris is in town as reported, he may have been with Amir.
 

Would you at the expense of one that can score as well?

Race can score but doesn't do any of those other things. He only averaged 7 or 8 boards in high school and he's got the body/height/athleticism to easily average 10. He isn't effective without the ball in his hands
 

Side note- saw Amir Coffey and Jarvis Johnson there on Saturday and Amir was there again on Sunday and i was on the wrong end of the gym to get a good look but if Jamir Harris is in town as reported, he may have been with Amir.

Best recruiting tool of all there. The more guys like Amir are around the better.
 

Race can score but doesn't do any of those other things. He only averaged 7 or 8 boards in high school and he's got the body/height/athleticism to easily average 10. He isn't effective without the ball in his hands

He averaged 9 last year, also led his team in assists.

I would agree that his rebounding needs to improve though.
 






I think Fitz getting a 6th year hurts Jarvis's chances with us. Now we only have 4 spots, one for Oturu, one for Gabe, one for a PG and one for Race if he wants it.
 

I think Fitz getting a 6th year hurts Jarvis's chances with us. Now we only have 4 spots, one for Oturu, one for Gabe, one for a PG and one for Race if he wants it.

I think it puts more pressure on Race. We have a backup plan and a returning player with a similar skillset. Now missing out on Race wouldn't really matter as much especially if we replace him with Jarvis.
 

Really curious what people think the Gophers would be getting if they got Thomas.

He can dunk. He can jump. He can't shoot, he can't dribble.

What are people expecting him to bring the Gophers if they even did offer - which I still don't believe they will.
 

Really curious what people think the Gophers would be getting if they got Thomas.

He can dunk. He can jump. He can't shoot, he can't dribble.

What are people expecting him to bring the Gophers if they even did offer - which I still don't believe they will.

He's a good rebounder and solid defender. I wouldn't say Jordan Murphy can dribble or shoot either and he's been a pretty good player. There aren't many teams 1-5 with all shooters and scores you need toughness guys also
 




Top Bottom