SPRINGDALE - Springdale High boys basketball coach Brad Stamps started to worry Josiah Wymer was going to drop by his office with bad news in the fall.
Wymer’s recruitment as a tight end continued to pick up as his senior football season went on, prompting Stamps to wonder if the 6-foot-5, 270-pounder would opt to focus on preparing for his college football career instead of playing his senior basketball season.
“That was something coming in that I was starting to get a little fearful of,” Stamps said. “I was hoping he wouldn’t have that conversation with me. Because I knew this team needed a post presence and somebody down there that can give what he gives.”
Stamps didn’t have anything to worry about.
Wymer will choose his college destination sometime in the next few weeks, likely after he takes visits to Stephen F. Austin and Central Arkansas, programs he has offers from. He is also still weighing a walk-on off er from Arkansas, the school he grew up a fan of.
In the meantime, Wymer is providing a physical presence in the paint for a Springdale basketball team picked to compete for the 7A/6A-West conference title this year. He is averaging 7.9 points and a team-high 8.3 rebounds per game, with four games of 10 or more rebounds.
“He’s amazing because he’s a big body, he doesn’t jump real well, he’s undersized when it comes to just height in the post,” Stamps said, “but yet, he continues to dominate the glass. To me, that’s two things. One, just having a tenacity to go get it. And two, mentally knowing where he’s supposed to be to get boards. You mix those two together and it makes a pretty good player.”
Wymer ’s impact was evident in a career-high 24-point effort in the Bulldogs’ 75-61 win over Liberty, Mo., in the Fayetteville Bulldog Classic, a game in which he shot and made his first varsity 3-pointer. But it may have been even more apparent in a 69-57 loss against North Little Rock, the consensus top team in the state, in the Fort Smith Coke Classic.
Springdale (8-3) hung with the Charging Wildcats the entire game, leading in the first half, tying the game three times in the third quarter and keeping pace until the fi nal minutes. Wymer’s 15 rebounds were a big reason for the Bulldogs’ success as they controlled the glass and often limited an explosive North Little Rock team to one shot each possession.
He dominated the boards against a big, athletic North Little Rock team that featured 6-foot-10 center Sam Dunkum. But going against a taller post player didn’t faze Wymer, who grew up playing with and against 6-foot-10 Chicago native Jahlil Okafor, ESPN’s No. 1 overall prospect in the 2014 class.
“I love playing against taller guys, because most of the time I am stronger,” Wymer said.
Wymer’s strength and physicality also come in handy on the football field. Choosing a program to commit to has proven to be a tough choice that has weighed on Wymer as National Signing Day on Feb. 5 approaches.
But his attitude will be the same regardless of which school he chooses.
“I just feel like wherever I am, I’m going to work hard to earn a position to play,” Wymer said. “No matter what. I don’t even have to have a huge chance. Just give me a chance.”
He’ll head to college in the summer in preparation for what he hopes will be a big freshman year. But before that, he hopes to help lead Springdale deep in the Class 7A basketball playoffs, a run that has seemed more plausible since the Bulldogs hung with North Little Rock in late December.
“Honestly, I think we proved to ourselves in the North Little Rock game that we can play with anybody,” Wymer said.
Sports, Pages 6 on 01/10/2014