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It’s not too difficult to find a basketball player who loves scoring points. What’s more challenging is finding someone who will commit to the nitty, gritty, defensive side of the game while still contributing to the offensive efforts.
That’s where you’ll find Jayce Depron. The Madison Prep junior is a long athletic winger who is proficient at making buckets but has centered a lot of his focus on being a defensive nightmare for opposing players.
“My role on the team is to score,” Depron says. “But I also play good defense. This year, every team that we played, the best player on their team was who I had to guard, and they didn’t score their average.”
Depron’s efforts helped lead the Chargers to a 29-2 regular season record, including the No. 1 overall seed in the Division II (Select) playoffs. After earning a first-round bye, Madison Prep cruised through the following three rounds of the bracket before ultimately dropping a tight contest in the state title game.
But that lone postseason defeat only serves as added motivation for Depron, who is ready to step into more of a leadership role next season to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
“We had a great season, we just didn’t finish how we wanted,” he says. “We need to be more connected. Last year, I wasn’t the leader my team needed me to be to get over the hump and win state. Me and my teammate, Josh Smith, we’re going to be great leaders so we can get the team back to the state (finals) and win it.”
Depron has already racked up a number of college offers with even more likely coming as he enters his senior season.
(Fun fact: he’s also a fantastic singer, dabbling in rap and R&B whenever the opportunity presents itself.)
Read more Rising Stars profiles here.
