JONESTOWN — Jermell Daniels, a senior wing and guard, played his first three years of high school basketball at Coahoma Early College High School, but then the format changed.
CECHS changed to a true early college format where students must apply to enroll. That came as a result of college courses being a part of the curriculum.
With those changes, Daniels chose to attend Coahoma County High School his senior year and he is already making an impact for the Red Panthers.
“It really had changed my mindset on going to Aggie,” said Daniels of the early college format. “We had to do all that.”
The Red Panthers, Class 2A state champions three of the past four seasons, opened 2020-21 with a 55-53 come-from-behind victory at Clarksdale High School. Daniels scored the winning basket in the final moments.
Daniels finished the game with a double-double of 12 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and one steal.
Playing a big role in his first game with CCHS was an easy transition for Daniels.
“We always had a big role because had a big team to play against,” he said. “As we played against Clarksdale, it was just a normal game to me.”
While he was disappointed he could not finish at CECHS, playing with the Red Panthers was familiar territory.
“It’s really the same, just different schools,” Daniels said.
“I’ve been playing with them (CCHS teammates) since elementary. We just had to switch schools in ninth grade. We came back together. It’s been fun getting back with them.”
The Tigers went 27-2 Daniels’ junior year and were one game away from the Class 3A state tournament. Daniels averaged 7.7 points, 1.7 assists, 6 rebounds, 4.2 steals and 0.6 blocks per game.
The style of basketball CECHS played in 2019-20 is different from CCHS in 2020-21.
“Last year, we got out on more steals,” Daniels said. “It was a more defensive team. This year, we’re just a half-court team. We can score on the half court and play defense on the half court.
“Last year, we had more offensive guys to score, so I wasn’t just the first. This year, I moved up to the first scorer. It’s just a big change.”
Daniels’ coach at CECHS, Corney George, and his current coach at CCHS, Derrick Moore, have helped him improve his game indifferent ways.
“They helped in a big way,” Daniels said. “Coach George helped more on defense. Coach Moore is really just putting it all together now, making it more interesting.”
One of Daniels’ finest moments came as a junior at CECHS when he dunked the basketball in The Pinnacle gym on senior night against Amanda Elzy High School.
“It was senior night, but I was a junior. I got the steal, passed it up (to teammate Tre Payno) and he passed it back and I dunked on him.”
Daniels has played on the basketball court in his hometown Jonestown every day since he was a young boy.
“I never wanted to be in the streets,” he said. “I wanted to do something positive.
“It’s easy to learn. It isn’t hard at all.”
Daniels hopes to play college basketball for the University of Memphis under coach Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway.
He already got his start taking college courses at Coahoma Community College while he was at CECHS. He plans to major in collision repair in college and paint and fix cars for a living. One of his courses at CCC taught him a little bit about collision repair.
“It was great,” said Daniels, who is an honor student. “I was getting done with my college stuff early.”
As long as there is a season, Daniels will be on the basketball court, but he believes COVID may end things prematurely.
“I don’t think we’re going to make it through,” said Daniels, adding it would be better if the season was played a few months down the road.
He is doing his part to avoid COVID during the pandemic by staying six feet away from people.
Whenever the season is played, Daniels has high expectations for himself and Coahoma County.
“My goal individually, I want to win the championship and I want to win the championship MVP,” Daniels said. “For Coahoma County, I want to bring back the championship to them.”
