JJ Andrews may be a sophomore, but that's where the buck stops when offering up an accurate depiction of him.
There's nothing else about him that remotely resembles his 10th-grade status.
Not his frame, not his mentality and certainly not his basketball ability. In addition to all of that, it's his level of maturity that might top anything that can be said about the 6-6 sophomore.
"I think his growth, it almost can't be measured," Little Rock Christian Coach Kyle Pennington said. "He has grown so much, obviously physically. His game has grown so much, but then, just who he is as a person.
"This year, we were very intentional about building his leadership skills as some guys graduate and move out, but honestly, he's ahead of schedule because of his maturity level. To the average eye, everybody can see his growth with his game and physical stature, but it's the other intangibles that stand out."
Andrews made the abstract concrete during his second season of high school. He shouldered quite a load for the Warriors but never once balked at it. He preferred to embrace it.
"I definitely wanted to grow in the leadership area," said Andrews, who is the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette All-Arkansas Preps Boys Underclassman of the Year for the second straight season. "Last year, being a freshman, the seniors helped prepare me for certain moments and times where I needed to step up and be that guy. That started in practice and then talking with my coaches and teammates outside of practice.
"I just wanted to learn little bits from each and every one of them."
Whatever Andrews learned over the course of the season worked.
He averaged 21 points and 10 rebounds for Little Rock Christian, which finished off the year with a second straight Class 4A state championship on March 7. Fittingly enough, Andrews left the title game -- a 71-56 victory over Farmington -- with the contest's top player award after scoring 19 points and pulling in eight rebounds.
But what he accomplished in that showdown with the Cardinals was just an inkling of what he did all year.
Andrews led the Warriors in scoring last season, but he had a plan in place just as soon as the final buzzer sounded on his team's 74-54 win over Blytheville in the 2023 championship game.
"I wanted to kind of improve on my overall game," he explained. "Just wanted to be able to pick up and guard one through five. I really wanted to work on everything to be honest so I could be ready for summer ball and my sophomore season."
Things weren't always perfect, though, for the youngster. According to Andrews, there were hurdles he had to clear.
"They were more so mental things," he said. "Sometimes, if I wasn't hitting shots, I'd kind of get down on myself. Or if there was a game where the competition wasn't too high, I'd get frustrated if things were going my way, and I knew I should've been doing a lot better than what I was.
"With me, I would have to just calm down and talk it through with my coaches and teammates, relax and just go play. Coach Pennington would always tell me to just be JJ Andrews."
Being himself was oftentimes more than most opponents could handle no matter who the Warriors were confronting.
Little Rock Christian went into the season knowing it would likely get tested every time out, particularly during the nonconference portion of its schedule. The Warriors faced a who's who of title contenders from Class 6A champion Little Rock Central to national powers Westminster (Fla.) and Memphis University School just to name a few.
"We definitely had plenty of challenges, but there were two things that stood out," Pennington said. "One, when you're in the middle of that conference season, and this is no disrespect to the level of play, there were times where you can feel a little bit of uninterest, a little bit of not playing together as a team because we knew we'd win the game by a lot. And secondly, it was a challenge for our staff because we had to figure out how we could not feel any pressure so the kids wouldn't feel it.
"A team is a reflection of the coaches, but I'm not gonna lie, there was definitely pressure. But we're a growth mindset program. We want to grow each and every day, and I think the guys did that."
Andrews was the poster child for that development. Not only was he vocally active nightly, his numbers took an uptick as the stakes increased. He averaged 24 points, 10.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists during the regional tournament and carried that play over into a successful state tournament. But according to him, the journey and grind doesn't stop.
"Going to definitely try to improve everything," Andrews said of his upcoming plans. "I want to become an overall complete player, complete leader. I'll be going to a few camps, including the USA Elite 100. Those will help me work on all my skills.
"I'll be playing a lot summer ball, too. I want to get better and better each day, and that's what I'm going to try to do."