Newcomer Jeremy Vague is having fun both on and off the court in his first year at USU
“Jeremy Vague reminds me of Baby Hughey,” said his roommate, who just so happens to be teammate Curtis Bobb. “He’s just a big kid.”
Bobb doesn’t mean Vague is a big kid based on the fact that Vague stands at 6-foot-9. Vague is a kid, according to Bobb, because he is constantly in the mood to play.
“He’s always into something,” Bobb said. “He’s a fun guy to hang out with. “
Bobb describes Vague as and antsy person who never wants to sit still.
But when Vague is doing one of his favorite hobbies, he’s sitting still. He enjoys playing video games. Bobb said that’s what the roommates do when they’re sick of each another. Sometimes they even bring their video games on road trips and sit up playing them in the hotel, Bobb said.
The camaraderie Bobb and Vague enjoy as roommates is part of what Vague enjoys about the whole USU team. He said he enjoys playing with his teammates and strives to make them better while also making himself better.
“I just work hard,” he said. “It’s fun.”
According to Bobb, he and Vague lift each other up when one of them is struggling on the court.
“We help each other a lot out on the court,” Bobb said. “He’s good at cheering people up.”
The No. 1 reason he came to USU was head coach Stew Morrill. He likes Morrill’s style. Vague said Morrill tells the players what they need to do.
“He’s forward,” Vague said. “He doesn’t beat around the bush. He’s so cool.”
Vague’s road to USU passed through two other schools. After redshirting his first year at Pepperdine, he played the second year before transferring to Canada Junior College.
Vague liked the thought of coming to Logan because it is far from home and it is easier for him to study. He also liked the idea of being in a smaller city so he could “stay out of trouble.”
The hardest thing for him to adjust to was the altitude. He found out what he’d be up against during his recruiting visit.
“I was dying,” he said of the visit. “I couldn’t even breath.”
He also learned to hate Logan’s frigid temperatures quickly.
“The weather is the worst thing about Utah,” he said.
So what does he like about Logan?
The people.
He said the people are really nice and he is happy to have the opportunity to spend time with people he probably wouldn’t be inclined to hang out with at home.
“I’m trying to socialize,” he said.
He socializes when he and Bobb, along with other roommate (and teammate) Toraino Johnson have girls over.
Vague said Bobb is so popular he hardly ever has to tell girls where their apartment is.
“I live with C-Bo,” he said he tells girls when he meets them. “I’m pretty sure you know where I live.”
“We all play board games when girls are over,” Bobb said.
Vague wears No. 4 because he said single digits make big guys look like they have a better physique, are taller and are more agile. He wore “00” in high school and wanted to wear the No. 1 when he came to USU, but changed his mind.
“It’s always the number that pokes up around me,” he said of No. 4.
Surprisingly, Vague didn’t start playing basketball until his junior year in high school. He was cut from the San Marcos High School team in San Marcos, Calif., his freshman and sophomore years. Those two years he played football instead. He had 14 touchdown catches playing wide receiver on the varsity team as a freshman. He quit football his junior year because he thought he was getting too big and focused on volleyball and basketball thereafter.
Vague isn’t the only one in his family who has excelled at sports. His sister, Leah, was an All-American in basketball at San Diego State University.
Vague is the tail end of five children. He said he’s the “youngest, but biggest.” From oldest to youngest his brothers and sisters are Keith, Kristine, Gerren and Leah.
“I’m a laid back, low-key type of guy,” he said.
Most students at USU don’t know him as a person, but only know him as No. 4 on the basketball team, he said.
Vague doesn’t even like to talk about basketball off the court. He said he changes the subject when people try to bring it up.
One of the greatest examples in Vague’s life has been his mother. He said she has taught him to treat people the he wants to be treated.
During the game against Long Beach State University on Jan. 11 that was televised on ESPN, he said he told the commentators to say that his Mom was the greatest mother on earth over the air. He said he talks to his Mom everyday on the phone.
Two tattoos stand out on his left bicep and right calf. The one on his bicep, a basketball with his last name near the bottom, was one that he’d been planning on getting his whole high school career. He told himself through high school that if he was signed by a Division I school that he’d get just such a tattoo. He signed with Pepperdine University and in turn had the tattoo made.
What about the tattoo on his leg?
“I threw it together myself,” he said.
Coming next season … another tattoo yet to be decided, he said.