Going into his senior year of high school, Jake Stephens was a little known recruit who was committed to Shepherd University, a Division II school in his home state of West Virginia. Then, at the last minute, Virginia Military Institute head coach Dan Earl swooped in and scooped the big man project away.
Fast forward a few years and Stephens - now about to be a graduate of VMI - found himself in another recruiting situation. Stephens, who has one season of eligibility remaining after an excellent career with the Keydets, needed a new home since VMI does not have a graduate program. This time the recruiting was a bit more overwhelming, with a lot of high-major interest, but again in the end, Stephens chose Earl.
"When Jake decided that he wanted to make a change, he was flooded with offers," Earl said in a press release Monday. "We are thrilled to continue coaching Jake for his final season."
The 6-foot-11 Stephens recently signed to play his final season with the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga program, which also recently introduced Earl as its new head coach. That signing was made official by the university Monday, adding a two-time All-Southern Conference pick to the program for the 2022-23 season.
"Jake is a skilled and talented big who will impact our program at both ends of the court," Earl noted. "We love his versatility, unselfishness, work ethic and his shooting ability."
Stephens has been the model of development throughout his career, as there was a steady progression of his game each offseason. The first two years it was developing and "evolving" his body, which has seen gains of three inches and 36 pounds since his arrival prior to the 2018-19 season. Last offseason it was shooting, a lot of it: Stephens estimated he took 1,000 shots a day.
The results were obvious. Stephens averaged 19.6 points and 9.0 rebounds per game last season. He shot 80% from the free-throw line, which was actually a dip from the 2020-21 season, but he improved 16 percentage points from his career average from 3-point range (49% on 151 attempts) and shot 55% from the field, up from his previous career best of 47%.
He finished fifth all-time in VMI history in blocks with 153 and ninth in rebounds with 730, while ranking just inside the top 20 in scoring with 1,416 career points.
Coming to Chattanooga, he has two goals: compete for a championship and make the NCAA tournament. And, as he's done throughout his college career, he's putting faith in Earl and assistant Andre Galfsky - a former VMI assistant who is expected to join Earl in Chattanooga - to put the roster together to make that happen.
"I've had a lot of great accomplishments through the years at VMI, and that's just one that kind of eluded me," he said Monday. "I know the staff will do their best to put a good team around me and the people we have left in Chattanooga, and let them do their work and trust them."
With the loss of five seniors from last season's 27-8 SoCon championship team and the expected losses of Malachi Smith, who is currently pursuing professional opportunities, and Jaden Frazier, who is currently in the transfer portal, the Mocs currently have six available scholarships for the 2022-23 season after the addition of Stephens.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3.