Prospect Spotlight: Jonah Zeller (2021 Catlin Gabel HS)
There aren’t a lot of big guys in the state of Oregon, but the ones that are around seemingly are in the Class of 2021. Jonah Zeller is a young big man with some promise. The developing 6-foot-9, 195-pound post from Catlin Gabel High School cut his teeth against some high-level competition this spring and summer, both in AAU ball with Nike Team Northwest’s 15U squad and with some elite camps.
“It was good to get to travel and see what the rest of the US is like,” Zeller said. “I feel like my game has been improving – it’s definitely good to go out and play against more aggressive players for my toughness. I feel like I have been getting more aggressive and my jump shot has improved. My post game has been slowly improving too.”
Zeller most recently showed off some of the progress he’s made at the PrepHoops Top 250 Expo in September, which helped him earn an invite to the Prime Time Top 40 Showcase the next month. At both events, he showed that he can run the floor well and is getting strong enough to post up down low. He has a fairly soft turnaround jumper and can also face the basket and shoot it some.
The key with Zeller is that he’s only a sophomore and it takes time for big men to learn the game. The tools are there though and it’s his hope that things will translate to some college recruiting interest down the line. “My goal is to get all my education paid for and go as far as I can with basketball,” Zeller said.
A good year in 2018-19 at Catlin Gabel will certainly help and it’s a season in which Zeller is hoping to make up for last year. “Last season we got robbed in the first round of the playoffs – we had a really good team and I thought we should have gone farther,” Zeller said. “This year, I would like to do better on the boards and get more rebounds.”