KEEP THAT CHIP ON YOUR SHOULDER 14

he is consistent in terms of being a great teammate,” Darius says. “You will never see him at practice being lackadaisical, he always has high energy, brings positivity and he is someone everyone wants to be around.” One lesson Darius has learned from Jamal is that while playing basketball there will always be someone that will be able to defend you or block your shot, however, there is no one that can stop you from playing your hardest. “If he had ever had a bad day on the court, he always played his hardest,” Darius says. When Darius was practicing as a red shirt, Jamal made sure he still worked on his game as red shirts are mainly to practice with the team to get the team better. “Jamal took on the big brother role with me and other teammates, but with me, he would tell me ‘work on your own game and always keep that chip on your shoulder,’” Darius says. “He will compete with me at a way that makes me better because that’s all he wants to do, is make people better.” Jamal is still working out and preparing for the next level of his career but he still wants to see Darius and his other teammates succeed. Jamal and Darius still meet up to this day to work out and go through drills together to make each other want to be great. “He’s the type of guy that works out even outside of school and basketball season, he loves to work out,” Darius says. “He is super coachable because he will never be the guy to talk while you talk as he will listen first and has a great ability for taking in all of the knowledge.” For the next step of Jamal’s career, he is completing the recruitment process backward due to COVID-19. Now he’s emailing schools and looking to see which school will fit him the best. Whittier College has shown him the most interest, while a couple of schools out east have also shown some interest. “The same way they would be recruiting you is the same way you want to recruit them because you know you would want them to be your next coach,” Jamal says. Above: ECC guard Jamal Howard takes an uncontested shot vs. Pierce College in November 2019. Below: ECC guard Jamal Howard works past defender E.J. Bushner of Pierce College in November 2019. Howard average 15.6 ppg, while earning 1st team All-SCC honors in his final year.