|
|
Monday afternoon should have ended all conjecture and most certainly answer the questions, "Is he going to change his mind?" or "When is he coming back?"
As Coach Tom Schoen was leading his team through a practice in preparation for this weekend's rivalry game against Euclid, Lighty made his fall debut in an organized workout on the VASJ campus at the corner of East 185th and Lakeshore Blvd.
Sorry to inform all the college football coaches and Vikings gridiron faithful out there waiting for a Week 4 return to catching the pigskin for Lighty, but it's not what you might be thinking. His appearance Monday at VASJ came on the track around the outside of the field, where the varsity basketball team was going through its first organized conditioning session of the year.
Rated as one of the top two junior basketball players in the state, along with Daequon Cook of Dayton Dunbar, and mentioned among the top 25 junior players in the country, giving up football wasn't exactly a crazy decision, even if it was unpopular for some.
Lighty played basketball exclusively this summer on his traveling AAU team from May until just last week. His talent took him to elite basketball camps such as the Reebok ABCD Camp in New Jersey, where he was named an all-star.
A love of both sports almost equally, and talent to match, made it a tough choice for Lighty, but the mature 16-year-old made one he thought made the most sense for his future.
And at some point, he felt like he owed it to the football team to not lead them on.
"It was hard, and I still did kind of want to play, but I was feeling I should focus on basketball and better my chances to play in college and hopefully get to the pros," Lighty said. "I still go to all the football games, and those guys are still my friends. They want me to play football again, but they are still my friends. I didn't practice or work out for football all summer and just wanted to make a decision because it wouldn't be fair to those guys."
Whether he should have continued to play both sports is up for debate, but there is no debating Lighty has an ultra-bright future on the hardwood. Big-time basketball programs such as Arizona, Syracuse, Wake Forest, Michigan, Ohio State, Florida and Michigan State have already expressed interest in the versatile shooting guard with the smooth playing style and confident, controlled demeanor on the court.
As a freshman, Lighty averaged 15 points and nearly seven rebounds a game. As a sophomore, he bumped his averages up to 21 points and 11 rebounds per night despite being constantly double-teamed by the opposition.
It is almost laughable to hear some critics say Lighty had a down year as a sophomore because he didn't average 30 or 40 points per game. The Vikings averaged right around 56 points a game, and Lighty, while wearing a bull's-eye on his No. 35 jersey all season, produced over one-third of those points.
Is there now more pressure on his muscular frame? Now that he has devoted all of his time and effort to basketball, have the stakes been raised or expectations been heightened?
If they have, it hasn't occurred to Lighty. When asked what he is looking for in the upcoming year, he gave a customary team-oriented answer.
"Win games," he said matter-of-factly.
Lighty is not changing his mind, and he is not coming back to the football field - at least not this year. He did leave the door open, or at least cracked, for a return in 2005.
Watching the Vikings putting the finishing touches on Monday's practice, a place he had been so comfortable and so successful for the past two seasons, Lighty smiled, took a deep breath and said when asked if there was any shot he might change his mind:
"I might play next year. I don't know. Maybe. There's a chance."
It would seem unlikely for Lighty to sit out his junior year and then return for his senior year of football, but then again, it probably seemed unlikely that a player of his talent would even consider not playing football.
For now, Lighty is a one-sport standout instead of two, but a whole new set of conjecture and questions will probably start anew next summer.
VASJ coach Dave Wojciechowski called his team's leading scorer a "special athlete" and a "great kid" and summed up his opinion on Lighty's future very succinctly.
"Whatever school gets him, they are going to get a good one."
There is no doubt or disbelief about that.
