STARKVILLE — Gavin Ware took his leadership responsibilities in an incredibly serious manner this season.
Instead of trying to successfully play his way into to shape during the season, Ware could’ve been seen last summer running the track and doing weight-training exercises at the Starkville Sportsplex with the vigor of a young man on a mission.
“The minute that I was named captain of the Starkville High team then that meant I had to showcase what was important instead of do a lot of talking,” Ware said. “I had to show people that they had to put in the work to be successful.”
Ware said his injury the previous season was also a motivating factor for him to keep the weight of his 250-pound frame down to the point where he could be a double-figure scorer on a consistent basis.
“I understand running the floor is hard in this game and I haven’t always done a great job of staying in the best shape,” Ware said. “(Starkville) Coach (Greg) Carter and I had a conversation that with the way we play, so up tempo, then I’ve got to be leading the way and not trying to follow.”
Carter, who has won multiple state titles at Starkville and a former lettermen at Mississippi State University, said he saw a lot of himself in the tendencies of Ware a couple of seasons ago.
“I really didn’t like doing the conditioning at all either at his age because I didn’t see the payoff,” Carter said. “What happened was he started getting the attention and realizing he needed to work harder to improve and he wants to play well all the time.”
Ware has already accepted and started adapting to the conditioning program at Mississippi State where he is enrolled this summer for his first semester of college. For a kid that was overweight and severely out of shape when he entered high school, the transformation has been very impressive.
“He’s such a great kid because he wants to be better at everything he does as he’s gotten older,” Carter said. “He’s gotten stronger and he’ll be fine at the next level because he takes to coaching so well.”
Ware, a four-star center prospect by Rivals.com signed with MSU during the early signing period and is excited about the opportunity to get early playing time with the Bulldogs program under new head coach Rick Ray.
“With the new coaching staff, I know there’s a chance to earn time on the court from day one because there’s no favorites right now,” Ware said. “I know people worried I would reconsider my decision but things happen and I’m excited about the expectations Coach Ray has for me early.”
Ray said the key with Ware being able to get into the rotation during his first season in Starkville will be his conditioning.
“Everything we’ve heard about Gavin is he needs to keep working on his conditioning and we’re really hoping that he’s doing that,” Ray said. “What I like about Gavin is he wants to learn and hear from everybody he can on how to get better. We want him to come in immediately and work his tail off because he can earn everything he gets here.”
Ware said one of the reasons he wanted to “keep in local” as he calls it by signing with Mississippi State is the good advice and vibe he was hearing from everybody on the Starkville campus.
“The current players and a lot of other people would come up to me and say you should work on this and then my game would get better,” Ware said. “Getting that information and having it be so close is a reason I felt comfortable at MSU.”
Ware averaged 19 points, 10.5 rebounds and five blocked shots in his junior season for the Yellow Jackets but was out during the squad’s run to the Class 6A state semifinals in Jackson after injuring his knee earlier in the playoffs. The 6-foot-8 frontcourt player fully recovered from the injury and has been in the starting lineup averaging 14 points per game and five rebounds while leading his team in the post to a return trip to the Mississippi Colisuem in Jackson.
“I felt that after my junior season I really let my team done so when we got started again I felt like we had to get back to Jackson,” Ware said. “There’s a difference between something you have to do and something you want to do.”
For Ware, his spectacular senior season, that ended with a Class 5A state semifinal loss in Jackson, was defined by doing what he had to and not just doing what he wanted.
“The key to becoming better at anything you do is being willing to put in the work,” Ware said. “I want everybody to know and all the kids that look up to me to understand that hard work will get you far in this world, not just basketball.”
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