When he exploded up, grabbed a rebound in traffic then crashed to the floor, he cut his elbow and banged his head so hard he never returned to the game at Tulsa. But the effort by Jackson Emery inspired the rest of his BYU squad.
Emery is the exception for a major college basketball player who took two years off to serve a mission.
The norm is for guys to struggle and even falter, get injured, limp around with stress fractures, experience tendonitis in the knees, get ankle sprains or suffer sore backs that go into spasm after a few hard practices. Many simply don't get their legs back for a year to 18 months and their productivity is unpredictable and inconsistent. Sometimes they can shoot, but with some, you can barely wedge a dollar bill under their sneakers when they jump.
Emery breaks the mold.
This time last year, Emery was an LDS missionary in Mexico. Like most missionaries, he had little time to physically work out or get in any routine.
Unlike Noah Hartstock, a highly publicized recruit out of Oklahoma who got off his mission last August, Emery had all summer after his mission to work out and prepare for this, his sophomore season. And he's now averaging about nine points and four rebounds a game for the Cougars, who open league play this weekend against Colorado State in Fort Collins, Colo.
And he's married.
"I'm still not there yet," Emery said. "I have a ways to go with my skills and conditioning, but I'm getting there."
Emery ranked No. 1 in the MWC in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.69) early this week.
"He's a phenom," said BYU basketball conditioning coach Justin McClure.
So, why isn't Emery struggling?
"First, he's a crazy-hard worker. The way he plays is the way he practices and lifts," McClure said. "Second, he's just a great athlete. He is very talented. Third, he didn't get sick or come back completely out of shape or with a bug like some do. In fact, he put on weight, about five pounds — all muscle — since he came home."
While redshirt guard Michael Loyd might beat Emery on a running jump and dunk contest, "Emery could get him on a jump with both feet," said McClure.
One problem Emery experienced this summer was unusual. He had played hours a day growing up before his mission without any physical problems, but this summer he noticed his legs would tighten up on him. It got so bad his knees would hurt, especially in the back, behind his kneecap. He started wearing slip-on sleeves on both knees and was worried that he had knee problems, like many guys just off missions experience.
One day, trainer Rob Ramos told Emery the problem wasn't knees but his hamstring muscles. They were simply knotting up on him.
"What we've done is just stretch those hamstring muscles," Emery said. "We do it all the time. I warm up before practices by stretching them. I try and stretch while waiting in line for a drill, or when the coach is talking. I'm always trying to keep them loose."
Before he left, Emery had an impressive vertical leap of between 38 to 39 inches. It was an explosive burst that enabled him to block shots underneath the basket or at the perimeter. He got rebounds, and his lateral quickness made him a coveted player at the next level by recruiters.
His shooting touch wasn't too shabby, either. The 4A Player of the Year in Utah out of Lone Peak, he was named Mr. Basketball by the Deseret News in 2005.
He's still got hops. He can tell when he goes up for rebounds or dunks the ball. But he also notices, since his mission, that he'll go to jump when he's tired and when he pulls the trigger, his legs do not give what he expects.
"Sometimes it's there," he said, but "sometimes, when I'm tired, it isn't."
Emery feels confident going up off both feet, but when he tries to go up off a run with one foot, it is "awkward" and he feels he doesn't have the right form.
