Jacaira Allen is used to bearing big burdens.
Imagine you’re a freshman who is about to embark on your first season as a member of your high school’s girls basketball team. It’s picture day and one of your teammates comes up with a nickname — Prodigy — she feels suits your personality and your game.
Instead of allowing Allen to take the nickname, Coconut Creek High girls basketball coach Max Ruback wanted Allen to earn everything that came to her, so he opted to give her an abbreviated moniker — Igy — in an attempt to motivate her to get the rest of the letters to spell out Prodigy.
“I was a 14-year-old kid and I didn’t really know what he meant (when he said he wanted her to earn everything she got),” Allen said Wednesday. “As the season progressed, I realized exactly what he was talking about.”
Allen didn’t take Ruback’s move as a slight and tweaked it to her liking, adding another ‘g’ to create an even better alias: Iggy. It’s a second name she will bring to Starkville to signal the arrival of another potential prodigy for coach Vic Schaefer’s program.
On Wednesday, Allen signed a National Letter of Intent to play basketball for Schaefer and MSU. The move comes after Allen tweeted last week she had given a verbal commitment to MSU over offers from Ohio State, Georgia Tech, Miami, and Ole Miss.
“Mississippi State has a coach who has been through it already and who has won a national championship (at Texas A&M) and has experienced assistant coaches,” Allen said. “I feel like they have it all planned out for me. I feel they know exactly what they’re going to do with me when I get there. I put my trust in them.”
Contrary to published reports that listed her up to two inches shorter, Allen said she is 5-foot-11 ½. Last season, she led Fort Lauderdale Dillard High to a Florida High School Athletic Association Class 5A state title. The championship was Dillard High’s ninth, which is the second most in state history, and fifth in the last six seasons.
In her first 31 games last season, Allen averaged15.1 points, 12.4 rebounds, and 3.2 assists. Her accomplishments helped her earn first-team All-State honors in Class 5A and that classification’s Florida Dairy Farmers Miss Basketball award.
Following the Florida state tournament, Dillard went on to play in the Dick’s Sporting Goods High School Nationals title game in New York, where it lost to Miami Country Day, the state of Florida’s Class 3A champion.
Allen is rated the No. 77 player in the Class of 2016 by espnW and Dan Olson’s Collegiate Girls Basketball Report and No. 66 by All-Star Girls Report.
Schaefer, who had one scholarship available, said MSU recruited two players and that Allen was the highest rated of the two. He feels she has an ideal skill set and makeup to fit in as a Bulldog. He praised the work of assistant coach Elena Lovato and the rest of his coaching staff for making Allen and her mother feel comfortable with them and the program.
“I don’t think there is any doubt you’re getting an ultra competitive, super athletic kid who is tough, physical, and has the SEC body already and the SEC frame,” Schaefer said. “I think from a competitive standpoint and how hard she plays the game it is really the piece to the puzzle we needed.”
Schaefer envisions Allen being a big three player, or small forward, for the Bulldogs. With Dominique Dillingham projected to be a senior in 2016-17, Schaefer feels Allen gives MSU the potential to have someone who can guard several positions and who is physical and strong enough to step in and contribute on both ends of the floor. He said the Bulldogs are excited to have the makings of an exceptional backcourt when you consider Oklahoma State transfer Roshunda Johnson will be eligible next season.
“She is someone who complements our team,” Schaefer said. “Hopefully we have gotten another Dominique in a little bit bigger frame. We also have added that SEC body that we had to have, and it is ready made. She is ready to go and you’re going to get a kid who has been coached in a great AAU program (Miami Suns) and by a coach (Marcia Pinder) who has won nine state championship. We’re getting somebody who is ready to go. We think that was critical for us.”
Allen is excited about that challenge, but she said she is focused on closing her high school career with another state title. She said this will be her first season as a team captain and that is eager to continue to set the vibe for her squad. She said she enjoys being “hype” when she is on the floor because she feels her teammates pick up on her energy and play the same way.
Ericka Haney, who has coached Allen the past two years with the Miami Suns’ Team Fowles, said Allen made the right college choice because her style of play fits into the Bulldogs’ aggressive defensive scheme and up-tempo offense.
“Mississippi State is going to love her,” Haney said. “She is high energy and high motor. She only knows one speed and that is to go hard. She can do a lot of things and can take over a game. I think they will enjoy watching her energy and explosiveness.
“Her upside is ridiculous. I think she will add a lot to the program over the next four years.”
Haney feels Allen will make a significant impact because she has matured throughout her high school years and that she has the size and the strength to do a variety of things. She also believes an up-and-coming program like MSU, which is ranked No. 11 in The Associated Press preseason poll, its highest in school history, is the right place for Allen.
Allen agrees and sees MSU as a place where she can continue to grow into a prodigy. She said she feels she earned that nickname last season, but that she likes Iggy and will stick with it.
“I have watched highlights of (MSU) and met the players,” Allen said. “They remind me a lot of me. They’re always hype and goofy, but they know when it is time to be serious and play.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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