March 12, 2024
Leesburg High School Senior Jermarien Williams Commits to Reid State Technical College
By Kyle Coppola
Leesburg High School Senior Jermarien Williams Commits to Reid State Technical College
Jermarien Williams, who was a standout basketball star at Leesburg High School, has committed to play for Reid State Technical College in Evergreen, Alabama. Reid State is an NJCAA program and plays in the Alabama Community College Conference, known as the ACCC.
Williams is very deserving of the opportunity to play basketball and study at the next level. He has proven his abilities not only on the court but off the court as well. Standing at 6’8″ and weighing 195 lbs, Williams morphed into one of Lake County’s best offensive and defensive threats this season.
Williams averaged 12 points per game, 6 rebounds, 3 steals, 3 blocks, and 4 assists per game. These are impressive numbers, and the entire Leesburg High School team did a terrific job this season, falling just short of making it to the state semi-finals with a loss against Blake from Tampa.
Williams has been a seasoned contributor to the Yellow Jackets’ success over the past few seasons, elevating his game to new heights in 2024. This was a huge coming-out year for Jermarien, and he had offers from schools all around the USA.
(No one could possibly know how much winning the district championship meant to Jermarien Williams. The pride and excitement was all over his face as he touched the trophy. It’s something to be very proud about. He and the team worked incredibly hard this season.)
There are no questions about Jermarien’s athleticism, which extends beyond the statistics. His highlight reel on Hudl features powerful dunks and defensive skills that have captivated coaches. Williams’s ability to excel both inside the paint and beyond the arc was on display this year as he regularly contributed on the offensive side of the ball.
In many ways, this is the perfect step for Jermarien Williams to play for Reid State. He will get to develop further skills against some great competition. In many ways, it’s similar to the path that Keon Ellis took, who currently plays with the Sacramento Kings in the NBA. Ellis played with Florida SouthWestern for academic reasons, but that was a junior college.
(Jermarien Williams defends against Eustis High School’s Anthony Hines. Williams is just as good defensively as he is an offensive player.)
Ellis eventually got an opportunity to play for the University of Alabama from 2020-2022 and then went undrafted before getting a chance with the Sacramento Kings. He has had a great season so far.
Williams has the size and ability to excel at anything he puts his mind to. This is an exciting time for this young man and for Leesburg High School as they send yet another basketball star off to continue their academic and basketball career.
Congratulations to Jermarien Williams and his family on this big commitment, and we look forward to watching what he does in the future.
Kyle Coppola was born in Newton, Massachusetts and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communications from Curry College in 2016. After traveling to Florida on a family vacation, he decided he could not get enough of the warm weather and made the move from snowy Massachusetts to central Florida 8 years ago.
For the last decade Kyle has gained valuable experience in social media content creation, marketing and sales, writing, video production, sports announcing and even broadcasting for local radio stations, such as FM 102.9 in The Villages and FM 91.5 in Massachusetts. Every year he volunteers at The Villages Charter High School as a play-by-play sports announcer for the football games as well as a public address announcer for the basketball games, including the annual Battle at The Villages Tournament.
Outside the office Kyle is a husband and father to two beautiful girls along with their cat. In his spare time he likes to spend time with his family, travel, play golf and swim. He is also a huge sports junkie and even bigger motorsports fan and loves to attend racing events when he can.
