Spears commits, teammates looking

Johnson County Community College was just 15-and-17 this year, but the school still had a trio of sophomores who could end up playing Division One ball next season. In fact, one of those players recently made a commitment to a nearby school. 6-foot-9 Kyle Spears will be playing for the UMKC Kangaroos next season.

"Yes, he did commit to UMKC," said JCCC head coach Mike Jeffers. "He was one of the top rebounders and shot blockers in the Jayhawk Conference the last two years. He had early offers from Southeast Missouri and Weber State and then he got some late recruiting from LaSalle, St. Bonaventure's, a lot of different schools."

Spears used his 35-inch vertical jump to grab 9.1 rebounds and block 75 shots this season. He also averaged 7.7 points for JCCC.

Forward Nate Pedrow was one of four Johnson County players in double digits in scoring this season at 11.4 points a game. He also averaged 5.2 boards a night.

"Nate visited Nicholls State early and he has a scheduled visit to Charleston Southern, but I haven't heard from them in about a week," Jeffers said. "With Pedrow and Stewart Campbell, it's that time of year, it's that trickle-down effect. Everybody is recruiting the same guy and if that falls through then ten schools are looking somewhere else."

Jeffers said he has a long list of schools keeping tabs on Pedrow and Campbell in case they were to miss out on other players. Campbell was JCCC's leading scorer this year at 12.5 points a game and also average nearly three assists.