Chapin boys basketball standout Jayden Leverett commits to Vanderbilt

Chapin High School boys basketball player Jayden Leverett has pledged verbally to Vanderbilt University of the Southeastern Conference.

Leverett, a 6-foot-11-inch, 230-pound center, had cut down his options two weeks ago to four schools namely the New Mexico in the Mountain West Conference, Colorado in the Big 12 Conference and Oklahoma Stat in Big Twelve Conference.

He made the announcement on Saturday in the 19 th of October. Vanderbilt is in Nashville Tennessee.

“It is a great school academically and I really enjoyed the school, the city and the team” Leverett going to study engineering. Coach (Mark) Byington was good at James Madison University and he has brought a good system here at Vanderbilt. In his system, the big man is used a great deal.”

Byington was hired at the station from Vanderbilt last season.

”When I went for the visit to the school, I thought it was good and comfortable,” Leverett said. Vanderbilt began to actively recruit me at a summer basketball tournament in Chicago and it was the final tournament I played. We built a good relationship. Now I focus on my last year in high school and ensuring that we clinched the state title.  

Leverett is a four-year letterman for Chapin playing on varsity and has been a starter the past two seasons in helping Chapin advance to the Region 1-5A championship game the last two years.

In his last year in the college, the El Paso Times awarded him the title of Defensive Player of the year. He pulled down nearly eight rebounds per game, and, at 6-10, was a real nightmare around the hoops. On offense he scored an average of .14, while his field goal percentage was .64.

He also received All-State by the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches.

Some of the other offered schools included: Mississippi State University, SMU, University of Texas El Paso, Utah State University, University of California Santa Barbara, Rice University, Texas Christian University, Sam Houston State University and New Mexico State University.

“He is such a good boy, always looking to help other wrestlers in our program and he has been a captain which shows how kind he is,” first-year Huskies coach Tevin Caldwell described him.

Added former Chapin coach Rodney Lewis, who coached Leverett for his first three years of high school: Jayden earner his place on this team and there is still more to be done. That is why we realized that Chapin could become something great when he got there.