Embracing the dirty work

Fresh off a heartbreaking three-point loss to Gibsland-Coleman on Nov. 11, Simsboro head coach Adam Wodach gathered his group together for a point of reflection.

The Tigers, like most seasons, are talented. They have the pieces to make a deep postseason run. But Wodach, in his second season leading the program, wanted to challenge his players’ mentality and have them, in their own words, lay out why they want to play basketball and what pushes them to be great. Tough losses often reveal true character.

Jalen Outley, a senior for the Tigers, thought his answer was going to be cut and dried when he heard the prompt from his head coach.

“I want to give credit to coach because he made us do this thing called, ‘ What’s your why?’ You had to come up with a goal of why you play basketball,” Outley recalled. “And at first, I said, ‘I want to get to the next level and be in college.’ But he said, ‘That’s true. But that can be taken away from you. So, if that’s taken away from you, what’s your goal?’ He made me think about it.

“I realized that I’m playing for the little me. I put in too much work, too many hours to quit. I’m playing as hard as I can, but I also know basketball is what I do, it’s not who I am. I always tell myself, the little me would be proud of me. And maybe I will get those big dreams but right now I’m just playing for the little me,” he continued.

Outley knows his approach is uncommon in an era where AAU highlight clips, star rankings, recruiting updates, and gaudy point totals determine whether a player is worthy of attention or deserving of the future of which he dreams.

But he’s not going to budge how he approaches basketball, not after resetting his mindset and embracing his role as the scrappy, do-it-all player the Tigers need him to be. He’s not one for the spotlight. It’s not his personality. At the end of the day, he just wants to contribute to winning.

“I want to play college ball, but I know in college not everybody is going to be the guy,” Outley said. “ Everybody in college was the guy on their high school team, so you gotta figure out what works for you and mature and grow up.”

His game has certainly matured in his senior season, as he ranks third on the team in scoring (12.4 points per game) and first in the following categories: field goal percentage (51.6%), rebounds per game (9.1), offensive rebounds (69), deflections (54), and steals (61).

Outley can score if he needs to, but he takes the most pride in his defense, usually drawing the other team’s best player on a given night.

For Wodach, Outley’s growth is a lesson every player on the Tigers should try to emulate.

“That just shows how much he’s grown in his time here,” Wodach said of Outley’s mindset. “That’s what I told him is if you’re playing just to get somewhere, if you get there, then what are you playing this game for? You hear that all the time about coaches that win national championships that are depressed because the one thing they worked towards they get, but then it’s like, ‘Well, when is the next one?’ That’s why I did that with them because I want them to take life lessons from this game and bigger reasons to play and work as hard as they are.

“He’ll do whatever you ask of him,” Wodach added. “ He’s in here all the time, usually the first one in the gym getting work in. He wants to help us win. He’s our rebounder. We need him on the floor to get rebounds, defend at a high level, and do all the little things that aren’t about scoring every play.”

Outley wants to help the team win by playing behind the scenes, aware the Tigers have explosive scorers around him that can get to 20-plus in a hurry in any game. He’s content cleaning up the scraps.

It wasn’t always that way, he admits. But he doesn’t want his final season with the Tigers to end without a strong postseason run, and he now realizes it won’t be possible if he tries to have his own way in the team dynamic.

“ All of that stuff, I had to realize going through high school, it’s going to come naturally if you just put the work in. There are levels to this. I know I’m not the best, so I gotta do what my team needs me to do,” Outley said. “I can’t go out there and shoot the same shots my teammates shoot. I had to realize what works for me. Maybe I get scrap points, rebounds, free throws, doing the dirty the work. Sometimes, that’s what you gotta do and I finally realized that.

“I give all the glory to God. I just try to trust his process and just let him guide me,” he continued. “I didn’t know how to do it myself, but I found myself in a slump my junior year and I said, ‘You know what, stop trying to force everything and let the game come naturally.’” Simsboro ( 8- 8) is slowly climbing back up the Class B power ratings – now up to No. 9 – and looks poised to take command of a solid district in the coming weeks of action.

If the Tigers accomplish their goals of a district title, there’s no doubt Outley will be at the center of it.

Wodach expects his senior to show up on the court like he’s proven to do but also hold his teammates accountable when no one is watching. Outley’s leadership style leans towards action over words but he’s growing more comfortable with using his voice when needed.

“Sometimes people might get offended when someone says something to them but with him the guys respect him when he says something because he’s earned it through how he works and approaches each day,” Wodach said.