Could Fort Mill’s Jacobi Wright be the next homegrown Gamecocks star? So far, so good

On Christmas Eve, South Carolina freshman point guard Jacobi Wright called his former coach at Fort Mill High School and asked if he could put up shots in the school gym.

Sure, kid.

Dwayne Hartsoe wasn’t surprised by the phone call, nor was he surprised to see Wright back at the gym to shoot a second time over Christmas break. That’s the kind of person Wright is. Though Hartsoe only coached Wright for one year at Fort Mill, he’s known Wright since his middle school days. Wright’s never been the flashy, ostentatious type. Instead, he’s won admiration from teammates and coaches for his humble, workmanlike attitude and his leadership.

He was always the kid who was easy to like. Even now, some of Wright’s elementary and middle school teachers come to Wright’s games in Columbia at Colonial Life Arena, just an hour down the road from Fort Mill. To them, he’s already a hometown hero.

Hartsoe says it won’t be long before Wright establishes himself as a South Carolina star. He reminds Hartsoe of another homegrown Gamecocks great he once coached.

“I’ve been doing this for 30 years now and also had the privilege of coaching Stephon Gilmore at South Pointe (High), and these two kids are very comparable in the way they go about handling themselves,” Hartsoe told The State.

“Gilmore played ninth-grade football as well as played basketball for me at South Pointe, and Jacobi’s the same way. Just their calmness, coolness about them, never knowing if they’re up 20 or down 20. Just the way they maintain composure, leadership by example and both of them extremely hard workers.”

That’s a lofty comparison. Gilmore has established himself as one of the NFL’s elite cornerbacks after a standout career for Steve Spurrier’s Gamecocks. Wright, meanwhile, is only midway through his first college season.

But already, the freshman has flashed some of the traits that make him special.

Thrust into action after junior guard Jermaine Couisnard injured his ankle early in the season, Wright has made nine starts as a true freshman on Frank Martin’s 10-6 (1-3 SEC) Gamecocks team and has averaged nearly 20 minutes per game. Wright has made freshman mistakes. He’s had games where he’s struggled, and his 4.8 points per game and his 34.5% shooting clip don’t jump off the stat page.

But Wright has excelled in areas that don’t always draw attention. His on-ball defense has grown leaps and bounds since his high school days, something that Martin said came ahead of schedule. As a point guard, he’s seized a leadership role on a team that has nine new players and has earned the respect of players much older than him.

“I can’t ask him to do more than what he’s done for us as a true freshman,” Martin said. “He’s trying his tail off and takes care of the ball and tries to get us into offense. I’m real proud of Jacobi.”

Most of all, Wright has stood out for his poise on the court, the way he seems unflappable in any situation — even when Martin is inches away from his face screaming at him on the sideline. That poise is what attracted Martin to Wright in the first place, when he saw the way Wright commanded the room as a freshman at York Prep. And it’s why Martin continued to keep an eye on him as he transferred to Fort Mill High, then to Legacy Early College in Greenville for his final two seasons.

A three-star prospect in 247Sports Composite ratings, Wright flew somewhat under the radar on the recruiting trail, but Martin and Legacy coach B.J. Jackson exchanged calls and texts about Wright on a regular basis.

“He’s gonna do everything you ask him to do,” Jackson told The State. “He’s not gonna try to be too flashy, and he’s gonna run your team.

“We always say Jacobi’s one of those kids that’s going to eventually help you cut the nets down in March.”

Wright’s upbringing

Mikisha Wright remembers sitting in the bleachers during one of her son’s youth games and watching Jacobi pass the ball over and over again to a kid who couldn’t seem to make a shot. Four or five times that kid got the ball, and it took until his final shot for him to actually make one.

“I’m over there like, ‘Why do you keep passing it to him?’ ” Mikisha Wright told The State, laughing. “After the game I asked him, and he was like, ‘Well, mom, I knew we were gonna win, and I knew he was the only kid that hadn’t scored.’ ”

Jacobi Wright has never had a problem scoring. He’s had a natural jumpshot since he was 5 years old, and he topped 30 and 40 points at times during his high school career. But Wright takes even more pride in being a point guard, a floor general, someone who brings out the best in his teammates.

Those point guard skills were instilled in him from a young age by his father, Chris Wright. A former Division II point guard at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri, Chris Wright would put his son through the same drills he experienced in college. He tried to channel his old high school coach in Missouri, the late Bud Lathrop, whom Wright compared to Martin in terms of his tough-love approach.

“As far as me coaching him, it was probably rough for him,” Chris Wright told The State, laughing. “But that’s another thing that’s prepared him mentally. Frank yells and gets on him, but he got a good bit of that from me as well. There’s nothing he hasn’t heard from a coaching standpoint, somebody yelling at him.”

Both Mikisha and Chris have always held their son to high standards in basketball, in the classroom and in life. They’re not the type of parents to baby their children or to hand out praise when it isn’t earned.

“After his (high school) games, people would come up to him like, ‘You did so great,’ ” Mikisha said. “And we’re like, ‘No, he didn’t.’ And that’s just because we know what he’s capable of and what he can do.”

Mikisha and Chris feel the same when they watch Wright play basketball now. Chris jokes that Wright hasn’t earned an “A” grade yet, but “maybe a B or B-plus.” They know he hasn’t shown the Gamecocks his full potential, and that excites them because they know it’s on the way.

The parents have been to every Gamecocks game except for the road trip at Tennessee, and usually they bring a group of five or six family members or friends with them. In USC’s win over Florida State in Rock Hill, Wright probably had enough supporters in the building to fill an entire section. Sitting in the stands, Chris is usually the nervous one, hoping his son does well. Mikisha’s on the calmer side; Jacobi gets his even-keeled nature from her.

“I’m a family guy, so having them an hour down the road and they can make all the home games, it’s amazing,” Jacobi Wright said. “I just try to play for them every day. And they’re so excited, man. They’re on Twitter liking tweets. When they see my name, they like it or retweet it. It’s just all love between us.”

Wright admits playing for Martin has been the most difficult experience he’s had playing point guard in his life. In early games, Wright played a bit timid, but his aggression and confidence have grown with each game. And he’s worked at it. When he got to campus, he stepped in Martin’s office and asked if he could see film of all his past point guards, so he could study them. Any coach who’s worked with him raves that his effort level is unparalleled.

“I think he’s going to be a star at South Carolina,” Hartsoe said. ”It’s just a matter of time.

“He will continue to work, and he will end up being a star there. I have no doubt.”