An Insider’s Take
Jayden Gardner Commits to East Carolina
By Jamie Shaw
Gardner is a monster, he excels at doing the tough guy stuff. Even being shorter than most opponents and a below the rim guy he somehow produces incredible numbers against any and everyone who stands in front of him.
When coaches ask about him, my mind goes to one story to best describe Gardner as player. During our North Carolina Top 80, when going through station work, Gardner got hit in the eye and had to leave immediately to get 6 stitches. He then came back to average over 20 and 10 for the event and win the “Mr. Hustle” award.
Gardner already stands as Heritage High School’s all-time leading scorer and rebounder with 1,554 points and 903 rebounds. Last season along Gardner won the Cap-8 Player of the Year award after averaging 22.8 points on 59% from the field and 15.2 boards per game. He led his team to a 28-2 record and won the local bracket of the John Wall Holiday Invitational.
Gardner picked up over 15 offers throughout the process and the decision also included St Joe’s and College of Charleston. Gardner is the 3rd commitment for the East Carolina 2018 class joining Virginia point guard Deshaun Wade and Florida (by way of Bismark State College) 7 footer Usman Haruna.
Let’s take a look at how Gardner performed during his numerous Phenom Hoops showings
2015 David Rose Memorial Day Classic
Jayden Gardner 6’6” Team Loaded NC 15s
(Heritage HS)
When thinking about upside, this one has it. Traditionally he has played closer to the basket. Well, his game is expanding out to the wing. He showed comfort attacking the basket in the half court set, and used his length and sturdy frame to finish at the rim. Defensively, Gardner has the ability to be a high level performer. He defends multiple areas, using great length and a non stop motor. Gardner still has some ball skills and fluidity to work on, however he has time and a lot of games to go.
2016 North Carolina Top 80
No. 74 6’6 ’18 Jayden Gardner (Wake Forest HS)
No one played with more effort and energy than Jayden Gardner. His relentless work ethic made a big impression on all the coaches and media in attendance. Coach Rob Salter stated it best, “Jayden is a warrior. He plays so hard and does a great job of using his body to score. He understands the game and his teammates enjoy playing with him. He competes every possession and has a very bright future.” In addition, we were impressed with his on court attitude and team play. He was a willing passer out of the post and was very unselfish. More importantly, he understands the game and knows how to makes winning plays.
2017 North Carolina Top 80
#97: 6’7 ’18 Jayden Gardner of Heritage (Wake Forest)
Moving onto a player that simply dominates everyone and everything in the paint, Jayden Gardner. He’s a big man that is simply immovable; opponents cannot contain him when it comes to rebounding or interior scoring. Offensively, Gardner is looking to post-up whenever possible, which he has great success with. He can set up on either block and has an array of moves in his bag of tricks; he’s nearly a guaranteed bucket down low. On the other end, he does not shy away from contact, is a great post-defender and does a good job protecting the paint. Gardner is an exceptional two-way rebounder that has been a double-double machine for some time now. Next in his development process is to improve his passing out of the post, as it would make him even more unguardable since double-teams couldn’t cheat. Coach Pierce on Gardner: “Jayden is a MAN! He knows how to play his position phenomenally well, uses his body as well as I’ve ever seen. Jayden can take the contact and still finish against anybody. When he touches the ball in the paint, you can go ahead and count it.” Gardner is a brute force that gets whatever he wants on the court; he averaged the third highest scoring total at camp with 23.5 PPG (this is after he left and returned to camp from getting six stiches due to an elbow to the eye). His name has started gaining traction lately but should only continue as he heads into summer play.