Carroll’s 44 point performance earns him sixth Athlete of the Week
Utah Statesman: So Jaycee, after being named Athlete of the Week so many times, are you getting tired of doing these interviews?
Jaycee Carroll: No, no. It’s all fun.
US: Is it a lot of pressure being such a hero and a role model to thousands of kids?
JC: Yeah, it could be a lot of pressure with the little kids in the community looking up to you and the people around campus a little bit. There’s a lot of pressure to live up to expectations and to live the principles I believe in.
US: Is it weird for you to hear me call you a hero?
JC: To be called a hero, yes. But to be a role model, that’s something that just comes with the territory.
US: And how often do kids come up to you on campus and say, “Nice game Jaycee” or some such?
JC: I hear that every day from at least one or two people. Someone will ask me about the game or ask me about the upcoming game. It’s kind of a daily thing.
US: Do you see people looking over at you and noticing who you are and then looking away?
JC: It does happen. It happened walking to class yesterday. I overheard them and looked at them, and they were a little embarrassed.
US: There was a rumor on the Internet that a BYU scout was at one of your high school games where you scored about 50 points, which was nothing out of the ordinary for you, and he went back to the “Y” and said, “This kid is too short to play ball for Brigham Young.” Is there any truth to that?
JC: I don’t know how much truth there is to that. The BYU scout that did recruit me was Andy Toolson, and I actually talked to him this year. He’s a great guy and he would help me out with anything. They did tell me that they had a lot of guards at the time and they weren’t really looking for a guard my size.
US: So you would have gone there?
JC: [Shakes head emphatically] No. Even if they would have offered me before I left on my mission, I probably would have turned them down.
US: What school do you enjoy beating the most?
JC: I love beating BYU, I love beating Utah, and it felt great to beat New Mexico State last week, and it’s fun to beat Nevada. All those games are fun wins for me.
US: If you had one game in your career to go back and play again, what would it be?
JC: The championship game against Nevada last year in the WAC tournament. I’d love to have that game back.
US: Your game is pretty complete, but what are some areas you’d like to work on?
JC: The same thing Coach Morrill always talks about, defense. I’ve got to get better. The other part I’d like to improve on is making good decisions when I get in the lane and make passes to my teammates to set my teammates up a little bit more. That’s something where I lack a little bit and I need to get fixed.
US: Fans see you getting a lot of steals, why do you think you still have the reputation that you can’t play defense?
JC: You know, I’ll play good defense for just about every possession, but there will be a few breakdowns where I get lost or I forget to do a certain part of defense that we planned in practice, and those are things I have to improve on.
US: Who is the toughest defender you have faced in your college career?
JC: Toughest defender. Most physical would be Coby Karl from Boise State. They were super physical and knocked me around a lot. Matt Lojeski from Hawaii has been a good defender on me and Kyle Shiloh from Nevada.
US: When you read about yourself in The Statesman, is there anything you want people to know about yourself that doesn’t come across in the articles?
JC: One thing I hope everyone knows is that I feel very blessed to be up here at Utah State. Not only playing basketball but going and receiving the education I’m getting here. I also feel very lucky to be a part of this community right now. I love Logan and I love the Cache Valley area. I feel very very lucky for this opportunity.
US: You’ve said you want to teach Spanish when you’re all done here. Are you going to give pro basketball a shot as well?
JC: If there’s an opportunity, I’m going to take it without even thinking twice.
-graham@cc.usu.edu