Here’s what hard work does for you

ASHEBORO — Osiris Rodriguez admits when he first came to Asheboro High School, he was more or less a “garbage” man, grabbing rebounds, never venturing too far from the basket and putting up short shots for the jayvee basketball program. Gifted with strength, his skill set hadn’t caught up with his size and there were plenty of games where the 6-foot-2 freshman inside power would find himself on the bench with foul trouble.

One reason for that was Rodriguez was forced to skip his eighth-grade season at North Asheboro Middle School. Once school returned from the pandemic, students had the option to complete that year by remote, so Rodriguez did just that, opting to stay home.

“Skill-wise, definitely for sure,” Rodriguez said of being behind when arriving on the AHS campus. “I think keeping my head down and working as hard as I could toward something, something that I loved, helped me blossom and develop into the player I am.”

It didn’t come overnight. It took years of hard work on the court and in the weight room, but the player who puts on the AHS varsity jersey now is far different than the one that put on a varsity jersey last year and the Blue Comets are benefitting from all of Rodriguez’s hard work.

“I think at the beginning of my freshman year, I started loving basketball more and more,” said Rodriguez, who now stands 6-foot-5. “I played everywhere. Travel ball, in different states. It’s because of how much I love basketball. It takes my mind off everything. It’s me, a ball and a hoop. It’s the funnest way to take time up.”

There was plenty of time to take up as entering his sophomore year and up until this very day, if the gym is open, Rodriguez will be there, working to improve on all facets of his game. His footwork has steadily increased and his moves in the lane and along the baselines are impressive. He’s learning to retain his aggressiveness and remain out of foul trouble, something AHS sorely needs him to do if they are to be successful.

“I remember he came in as a ninth-grader,” said AHS varsity basketball coach Brian Nance, who is in his 29th year of coaching. “He was raw, had good size, but his skill level wasn’t that high. He fouled out of a lot of games because he couldn’t adjust, he was just roughhousing around the basket. 

“The summer between his ninth and 10th grade year, he started coming to workouts,” Nance added. “We let him play jayvee that year and dress for varsity games. There were some games he was able to see some time in the fourth quarter and that really helped him. Then his junior year when he was with Jerquarius (Stanback), he was more than just a role player. He had some big games for us. We saw it building.”  

Rodriguez has built himself into one imposing force inside with acrobatic moves around the basket, strong rebounding tendencies and a player who has worked diligently on his long-distance shooting. 

 “He played football as a junior, so he didn’t do that this year so he could concentrate on basketball,” Nance said. “He has lived in this gym all year. I showed him how to set up the shooting machine and he would be in here at seven in the morning. He has put in untold hours making himself better. There’s really no magic pill a coach can give someone. Kids have to come to the gym and give the time. He’s a perfect example of that. I always tell the kids it’s like a bank. You can only withdraw what you put in. You can’t take out $100 if you only put in $5. To see where he has come from his freshman year to now, I have never had a player like that.”

Rodriguez said in his first few seasons, he would be beat on underneath in practice. Day after day, teammates would bounce him across the lane in practice. Rodriguez could either get tougher and acquire the skills needed to compete with these older players or quit. He chose the former.

“My sophomore year is when I became stronger,” Rodriguez said. “Going against those guys (Hakeeme Butler, Stanback, Josh Meadows and Tanner Marsh) in practice, those guys were tough. I can’t count on my fingers the number of times I was bleeding, scratched.  

“A lot of it (improvement) has come with just being able to play with more freedom as time went on,” Rodriguez said. “When I really started to get comfortable and know my role, it was then that I started becoming the type of player Coach Nance said I could become. It took tons of nights in the gym, early-morning workouts, sweat and throw up.” 

After averaging 8.9 points and 6.3 rebounds as a junior, his first year as a starter, those numbers have skyrocketed to  14.1 points and 7.8 rebounds this year. Fellow inside power Zac Blackwell, at 6-5 and 270, certainly makes the defense keep eyes on both players. 

And with Rodriguez working on his outside shot, he’s becoming a more difficult player for opposing teams to match up with.

“It’s really crucial for us as a team to have as many weapons as possible,” Rodriguez said. “During the summer, me, Jalial (Timmons), Eli (Johnson), Elijah (Woodle) were at the gym all the time trying to make sure we have those outside threats.”

The Blue Comets are off to a slow start in league play as Friday’s loss to Ledford left AHS 0-3 in the conference and 9-6 overall heading into action this week.

“Our conference will be a dogfight,” Rodriguez said. “We are going to do everything we can to get this thing going in the right direction.”

Continued hard work, which Rodriguez is quite used to, would be a first step.