Why juco recruit Jaykwon Walton relishes fresh start with Wichita State basketball
Jaykwon Walton is still waiting to show the college basketball world what he can do on the Division I level.
The former top-100 recruit never caught on at Georgia at the start of his career and after a one-year stint in the junior college ranks, Walton believes a breakout season is coming on the Wichita State men’s basketball team.
Walton, who signed with the Shockers on Thursday, is a 6-foot-7, 205-pound guard with two years of eligibility remaining and is rated by 247 Sports as the No. 5 juco recruit in the country. He told The Eagle he is already motivated to prove himself in Wichita.
“I’m always going to have a chip on my shoulder because I feel like I left myself down (at Georgia),” said Walton, who appeared in just nine games in two years before transferring early in the 2020-21 season. “I knew I was better than what I showed. People really haven’t seen me play a lot, so I’m ready to show the world what I can do.”
After essentially a two-year break from action on the court, Walton finally started playing again this past season at Shelton State (Ala.) Community College. In 22 games of action, he averaged 12.9 points, 4.2 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.3 steals with shooting percentages of 46.8% from the field, 35.6% on 6.0 threes per game and 67.3% on free throws.
But Walton says he doesn’t believe this past season was indicative of his true potential. He said he’s been waking up at 5 a.m. to work out back in his hometown of Columbus, Georgia and finally feels 100%.
“I was coming off a (torn meniscus) injury and I definitely didn’t feel like myself,” Walton said. “I was favoring my knee a lot. I couldn’t show my full potential. But now I’m back to jumping off that leg again and I feel like I’m ready.”
Wichita State first noticed Walton when his Shelton State team played in Hutchinson at the NJCAA national tournament in March. From there, WSU head coach Isaac Brown took the lead on recruiting Walton.
When Walton took his official visit to WSU last week, he was impressed by how much time Brown spent with him. That’s a rarity according to Walton, who has signed with SEC programs Georgia and Mississippi State in the past. Brown was ultimately the deciding factor for Walton to commit to the Shockers.
“What stood out to me the most was he was real with me from the start,” Walton said. “He was authentic and that caught my eye. He showed me around the campus himself. Usually they have (graduate assistants) or assistant coaches showing you around, but he took the time to show me around himself. He made me feel like Wichita was the place where I needed to be.”
It’s been a winding road for Walton to reach Wichita.
He was originally committed to Mississippi State as a high school senior, then flipped to Georgia to join Tom Crean’s top-15 recruiting class that featured current NBA star Anthony Edwards. He played in just seven games his rookie season, averaging 1.3 points and 1.5 rebounds, then decided to transfer to Shelton State after just two games of his second season in Athens.
Before the 2021-22 season, Walton was being courted by Alabama, Mississippi State, South Carolina, Houston, Cincinnati and DePaul. He chose the Bulldogs again last November, but was released from his letter of intent when head coach Ben Howland was fired in March. He said he was also contacted by LSU, Alabama, Kansas State and Arkansas Little Rock following this past season.
“I feel like I proved I could play both ways (at Shelton State),” Walton said. “I wanted to show I’ve got a motor because that was one thing people used to say in the past that I didn’t have a motor. I just wanted a chance to get back on the court and go somewhere that I could fight for minutes right away and work hard every day and defend. When coach Brown said that’s what he was looking for, I was all for it.”
At 6-7, Walton figures to pose matchup problems for defenses because he has the ability to play the shooting guard position. Not only can he drain 3-pointers along the perimeter, he also has the athleticism and handle to slash toward the basket and use his length to score.
That versatility is exactly what Brown has been targeting in his 2022 recruiting class, which still has one scholarship remaining. Walton figures to join players from the transfer portal in sharpshooter Colby Rogers (Siena), combo guard Xavier Bell (Drexel), athletic wing Jaron Pierre Jr. (Southern Miss) and redshirt freshman Jalen Ricks as options for WSU on the wing.
“I feel like with my size, I’m definitely going to bring a lot of versatility,” Walton said. “I don’t really have a position. I can play anywhere they need me. I can be a lead guard; I can be a shooting guard; I can play forward. I just want to be on the floor and help my team win.”
On defense, he has a knack for jumping passing lanes, picking off passes and zooming down the court for breakaway jams. He has quick hands and shows signs of being a disruptive defender, especially when he’s guarding smaller ball handlers. Like all newcomers, he will likely need time to learn his responsibilities in a team defense, but there’s no doubt he has the physical attributes to be an above-average defender at the point of attack.
“Jaykwon is an experienced guy who can help us out at multiple positions because of his size, skill and athleticism,” Brown said in a statement. “He’s an unselfish player with excellent court vision and he has the tools to be a big-time defender.”
Walton takes pride in coming from a winning pedigree.
He was a superstar in the Alabama high school ranks, where he became a unanimous top-100 and four-star recruit at Carver High in Montgomery. He scored 1,663 points in his career and led Carver to the 2018 Alabama Class 6A state title and a runner-up finish in 2019, earning “Super 5” honors (one of the five best players in the entire state) in both 2018 and 2019.
After leaving Georgia, Walton joined one of the nation’s top juco programs in Shelton State, which finished this past season with a 30-5 record, another Region XXII championship and a trip to the NJCAA national tournament, where the team won one game before losing in the second round.
“I just want to win,” Walton said. “That’s the most important thing for me.”
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