Jayla Russ was celebrating a win at last weekend’s Spokane Hoopfest when her phone rang.
And a different kind of celebration began.
The recent Arlington grad’s AAU coach told Russ that Eastern Michigan University head coach Fred Castro wanted Russ to come play in Ypsilanti, Michigan. After a whirlwind few days of recruiting and contemplating, Russ — who had committed to play at Tacoma Community College next season — decided to accept the offer and head east to EMU.
“It was so overwhelming because I was at Hoopfest and we had just won a game and my coach calls me and I was thinking, ‘Uh oh, am I in trouble?’” Russ said. “He said, ‘I know you’re already committed to TCC, but it’s a D-I offer and you’ll get playing time.’ So I was like, ‘Let me just reevaluate everything and talk to my mom.’
“It all happened in a four-day period — me deciding to move across the country and just leave everything.”
Castro, Eastern Michigan’s first-year coach who spent the past three seasons at the University of Washington, talked with Russ for the first time last weekend and tried to convince her to come play for him and the Eagles.
“It went well. I think she was caught off guard a little bit,” Castro said. “She had what she thought she was going to be doing for the next year or two. Obviously, this is a completely different path, but I think she was quite excited about it. But I had done a lot of research on her and talked to people who knew her and they had nothing but good things to say.
“I’m ecstatic. … She fits the style of play we’re going to have here. She’s also a good person, a quality student, comes from a good family, high character and that’s really important to me.”
Russ talked to a friend’s father “because he gives great advice” and then reached out to Arlington Eagles head coach Joe Marsh to get his thoughts.
“She came into the gym and we were talking about it and I said, ‘What are they? What’s their mascot?’” Marsh said. “She said, ‘I don’t know. I’ll look it up. They’re the Eagles!”
Then Marsh, who was already on board, was sure it was a good move.
“I just thought it was a fantastic opportunity,” Marsh said. “It was a bit of a surprise late. She told me about it and we talked. I said, ‘For me, the whole point of this thing is to get you an education. Basketball can be a tool for that. It’s definitely something you have to look into.’ To be able to get a scholarship and get to go play basketball in college is a hard thing to pass up.”
The offensive coordinator at UW the past three years, the 36-year-old Castro had seen Russ play at the state tournament in the Tacoma Dome, as well as team camps at Washington.
“Being at U-Dub for the past three years, I’ve been able to watch a lot of Washington high school basketball,” Castro said. “She really stood out to me for the first time two years ago at the state tournament. I felt she was the best player on the floor in the game I was watching. She was making plays, hitting (3-pointers), making good passes. I thought she was a diamond in the rough. … I kept her in the back of my mind in case I was fortunate enough to get a head coaching opportunity.”
After talking it over with her family, Russ decided to make the move and signed her paperwork on June 29. She will visit the Eastern Michigan campus in early August before heading to school later in the month.
“I’m really excited. I’ve always liked Fred Castro,” Russ said. “He’s always had an eye on me and followed me on Instagram and Facebook. … He was really nice. He called my mom – and she had a lot of questions. He called me and we talked for awhile.”
Russ isn’t worried about making the move across the country.
“Don’t get me wrong,” Russ said. “I love my family and would love for them to be able to come watch me play, but it’s going to be kind of nice living by myself and learning how to be on my own.”
The 6-foot-1 forward, who was on varsity all four years at Arlington and made it to the state tournament in each of those seasons, had talked with a few other schools, including Portland State, Hawaii, Tennessee State and Washington State. She had decided to go the community college route with the hope of transferring to a Division-I school.
Last weekend’s phone call put Russ ahead of schedule.
“I think both of us were a little surprised that there wasn’t some more interest,” Marsh said. “They get a really good athlete with good size. Jayla does a lot of things really well – she’s a great passer, she can shoot the three, she’s been a leader in our gym for four years. I just think that she’s going to go there – she’s got some work to do like any player coming out of high school – but with her size and athleticism and playing strong competition she’s got a lot of upside going forward.”
Russ said that Castro envisions her as a stretch four, with Russ playing “inside post but I’ll still be able to step out and shoot.”
“She’s a 6-1 post player that can shoot the three and stretch out the defense,” Castro said. “I think she’s a player that puts a lot of pressure on the defense because of her shooting ability.”
Marsh said he’s “got a million Jayla stories” but one in particular stands out – the 4A state semifinal against Lake Stevens in 2013 where Russ, then a freshman in her first state tournament, scored 23 points and grabbed six rebounds to help Arlington to a 66-64 overtime win over the Vikings and a berth in the state championship game.
“I put her in the starting lineup and she came out in that game and started doing things we hadn’t seen before,” Marsh said. “I said, ‘Who’s this kid? Where did she come from?’ That night she put it all together and I realized this kid has the chance to be pretty good. … The change over time is tremendous. She’s grown up so much since then. We’ve had a lot of success together. I love her. I’m going to miss her. But I’m really excited for her to go on to the next level and do what she wants to do.
“Our whole program is excited for Jayla and hope she has success. We’re looking forward to seeing what she does.’ And I can still say, ‘Go Eagles!’”
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