Recruiting Report: James Sommer (2020)
Remember when people said Cristo Rey Jesuit would fade with the loss of Jericho? A new star emerged leading the Pumas to 19 wins with 23.8 points, 8.4 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 2.3 steals a game. That player is James…
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Continue ReadingRemember when people said Cristo Rey Jesuit would fade with the loss of Jericho? A new star emerged leading the Pumas to 19 wins with 23.8 points, 8.4 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 2.3 steals a game. That player is James Sommer.
“The highpoint for the season as a team was winning the conference tournament for the first time in school history,” James said. “That was the biggest thing. We have been working for this for so long and to finally achieve that as a young group it felt really good.”
Jericho Sims obviously put Cristo Rey Jesuit the basketball program on the map with an outstanding career that ended in 2017. The thought from most was that this is a program that would fade but Sommer, Erick Burgess, Derek Burgess, and company have continued to have success.
“That was a super big motivator for us,” James said about the post-Sims years. “Last year we had a really young team with me, Erick, Derek, Nke (Akpati), Jaylen (Cargill), and John (Williams) who was our senior. With John graduating we lose a lot of rebounds, but we are a young team.
“People didn’t even talk about us coming into the year and we finished third in our section. Just proving people wrong is a big motivator.”
Sommer put up excellent numbers in 2018-19 as we’ve shown. He has a plan to be even better as a senior.
“I want to improve my shooting, handles, and rebounding. We practice now three times a week (with Mentality). Usually I get there, we lift and then we have practice after.”
For the second straight season Sommer is competing with the Mentality Minnesota 17 and Under team. In two weekends of play Mentality is 5-3 including a final in the final eight this past weekend in Council Bluffs, Iowa.
“We are trying to go to the finals for Adidas Silver,” James explained. “I think a lot of teams get moved up after they continue winning. As a team that is a big goal for us. We are preached defense, defense, defense all the time. Hustle. Heart. Rebounds. That’s how we win games.”
Sommer is a top 30 level player in a strong 2020 class of talent in Minnesota. It’s time for schools to start joining on the baselines to see this young man compete.
“I’ve had some mail from schools and some camp invites. Winona State has reached out, Augustana sent some stuff, but no offers as of yet.”