2024 Oak Cliff Faith Family point guard Jazz Henderson Jr made some waves over the weekend when he announced his commitment to Texas Tech as a preferred walk-on.
The District 12-4A Offensive Player Of The Year as a senior, Henderson Jr becomes the first high school recruit to commit to Texas Tech in the 2024 class.
Henderson Jr. got to visit Texas Tech in early February for the Red Raiders 66-59 win over UCF, and says that visit went a long way in his decision.
"Honestly I felt like it was just the environment. I came down for an unofficial visit to watch (Texas Tech) play UCF and the fans are crazy, the arena was rocking, you know? It felt good. The players were embracing, when I went in the locker room and spoke to everybody. It was nice, it was cool, it was fun.
And the coaching staff and what they have planned and things like that. I can tell the enthusiasm and the accretion that coach McCasland plays with, that's something that came from my high school coach that I can like relate to. Especially with my coach how much he wants to win, I can see that in McCasland's eyes. Just watching him coach and even the team, I can just see how they play and how they move and how aggressive they are and things like that. How serious they are about winning basketball games and I'm very much attracted to that and winning myself."
While Henderson Jr. took notice of Head Coach Grant McCasland's coaching style, he's also developed a strong relationship with General Manager Kellen Buffington going back several years.
"I was moreso communicating with coach Buff. Coach Buffington, I've known him for a little bit but it was great. I let him know what I was gonna do and he told coach McCasland and he was just like 'lets work!' and things of that nature. He just told me to come in ready to work and that's all I'm attracted to like I said.
I've been knowing coach Buff since I was younger, since I was a kid. I've played in all his tournaments, things like that. Our relationship is pretty strong. I feel like he's someone I know I can trust. Listening to him and listening to how he's talking about coach McCasland and the other coaches on the staff, I feel like I can trust him. His word is good with me."
If there's one thing Henderson Jr knows how to do, it's win basketball games. Oak Cliff Faith Family has won three consecutive state championships, and are coming off a strong 2023-24 season in which they went 25-11 overall and won their last 13 games to take home the latest 4A State championship.
"Honestly I just feel like I'm just a leader. I lead on and off the court with different aspect and different ways. Someone who can get my players going and when my main guys are struggling or my main scorers are struggling I can help them on and off the court.
I'm good with just being an extra coach. I'm a second coach on the floor I feel like, that's kind of my calling card just being another coach on the court. Just making my coaches job easier. I can bring knockdown shooting from the perimeter because I've taking that, I've been getting better at that over the past years. That's my main point in what I've been working on in my game, but mainly I feel like my calling card is being a second coach, running my team and winning games."
Expect Henderson Jr. to join his new team in Lubbock sometime in early June. Until then he's going to stay in the gym and prepare as he knows the step up to Big 12 basketball will be a new challenge he's taking head on.
"I heard something about the first week of June is my arrival. For the next coming weeks, I've already started, but I'm just working out hard, trying to get stronger, faster and stay in the gym. Stay locked in. I feel like it's gonna be a big transition from high school basketball to college. I've played on a high level in high school but I feel like it's still gonna be a big difference. There's some things I have to work on like my strength, my conditioning, things like that. So that's all I'm gonna be doing for the next couple months is preparing myself to get down there."
The son of former Long Beach State guard Jazz Henderson Sr., Henderson Jr's goals are to win lots of games at Texas Tech.
"My goals are honestly to win every game. That's been my goal every time I step on the basketball court. My message to the fans is 'lets work!'"
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