CENTERTON -- It could have been easy for Lane Jeffcoat to begin bidding Bentonville West and his classmates a fair adieu.
The 6-foot-10 senior, who has already committed to play football at Rice as an offensive lineman, could sign his national letter of intent in a few days and start making his preparations to head to Houston to begin his college career, like many football players will do.
Instead, Jeffcoat quickly turned his attention to basketball. Less than 48 hours after he played his last football game as a Wolverine, he joined West's boys basketball team for a practice session and played in the season opener against Mena the next night.
"It's like a family here," Jeffcoat said. "Coming here my freshman year, I know it bothered them a lot because there was a 6-6 guy not playing basketball at your school. When I joined, I was kind of new and I had guys like Riley (Buccino), T-Bow (Tucker Bowman), Tuck (Tucker Anderson) and Daws (Luke Dawson) bring me into the family, and I'm close to them now.
"Knowing I want to do that for the younger players on this basketball team, that's why I wanted to come back."
Jeffcoat's return gives West a big boost this season, and not just because of his stature. He also gives Wolverines Coach Greg White another experienced hand on the roster.
Jeffcoat and Caleb Crusinbery are the only returning starters on a West team that won the 6A-West Conference regular-season title and reached the Class 6A state tournament semifinals. Jaxson Brust and Zahir James were the only other players who saw significant playing time on the Wolverines' varsity team last season, while Que Thompson played during the Class 6A state tournament.
"He's one of the few guys on this roster that has been in the battles and in the big-time games," White said. "Before he joined the team as a sophomore, I met with him and his dad, and I told him 'I need you more than you need me. Just give us a chance, spend time with our team and see what you think.'
"The thing is he's very athletic for a guy that size. I joke with him all the time that if I was the head football coach I would let him play quarterback. He's so big, and he's a good passer. He's one of our better shooters. In our offense, he rarely plays around the basket, and a lot of that is by design."
Jeffcoat didn't practice much basketball while he was in football, but he did manage to work on his shooting when he was given the opportunity. He said the game against Mena was "a little rough" as he begins to make the full transition from "football shape" to "basketball shape," and it left him breathing a little hard.
Meanwhile, he plans to put his size to good use as he wants to be a better rebounder this season. He also aims to be the player his Wolverines teammates can look up to -- in more ways than one.
"I want to be an explosive player, wherever I am," Jeffcoat said. "I want to be knowing what I am doing and going to do it, as well as doing it right and doing it fast.
"Probably the one thing I haven't done yet that I want to do is earn all-state and go win a state championship. I want to do it for this school and for this community right here."