Chester senior Isaaiah Freeman, a Clippers quarterback in the fall, is a returning All-Delco honorable mention player for the Clippers basketball team. Freeman is seen with former mate Karell Watkins, left, amid a loss to Archbishop Ryan in the PIAA Class 5A state semifinals last March. Pete Bannan – MediaNews Group
By Jack McCaffery
The summer tour led Larenzo Jerkins through 11 states and twice as many opportunities to impress, so Chester High basketball coach Keith Taylor would brace for the inevitable.
There was Jerkins, his 6-5-and-developing junior, creating a mild stir with SK Elite on the AAU barn-storm. That, then, would be the cue for the recruiters to pounce.
Not college recruiters.
The other kind.
“High school coaches in the state,” Jerkins was saying, before a recent practice at 9th and Barclay. “A lot of them. They were trying to contact me. Schools like O’Hara, Archbishop Carroll. A lot of teams.”
Such has been the test Taylor has had to endure at Chester, which long has produced gifted players and tolerated desperate high school recruiters. It’s nothing new, and that transfer portal will not likely be buttoned shut any time soon.
All Taylor can do, then, is try to sell Chester’s dazzling basketball history and try to keep pace.