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Creston senior Jay Wolfe had the luxury of receiving college scholarship offers for two different sports.
Thursday afternoon, he made his decision official when he signed a National Letter of Intent to play basketball for Briar Cliff University next year.
“We’re really happy to have Jay,” Briar Cliff head basketball coach Nic Nelson said. “We think he’s going to be a great fit. We’ve been following him now for the past couple of years. We know how talented he is. He’s going to be a good teammate, high-character guy. He’ll be a good fit for our team.”
In the end, Wolfe’s decision came down to Briar Cliff for basketball and the University of Northern Iowa for track and field.
The two-time all-state basketball player, who scored 1,000 points for his career as a Panther, couldn’t pass up the opportunity to continue playing basketball, however.
“It was really hard to turn down the chance to have a Division I experience with UNI, but I think in the tend, I just really wanted to play basketball and the level didn’t matter,” Wolfe said.
Several other GPAC schools, such as Morningside College and Northwestern College, showed interest in Wolfe for basketball, as did Division II Truman State University.
But Wolfe said he always felt comfortable with the players and coaching staff at Briar Cliff.
“Just the guys and the coaches. I always had a good relationship with Nic Nelson,” he said. “The guys are really nice. The program is on the rise. Having success in the next four years is something I’m looking forward to doing.”
Briar Cliff finished the 2014-15 season with a record of 22-11, going 13-7 in GPAC games. The Chargers advanced to the NAIA National Tournament for the 20th time in program history, losing to No. 8 Davenport in the first round, 68-66.
Team MVP Shane Graves returns for his junior campaign, while Bryan Forbes also returns for his junior season after averaging 10.5 points per game.
The Chargers lose only four seniors from the team.
“We’ve got a really good team coming back,” Nelson said. “We’ve got a lot of good guys returning for us next year, but we think Jay is athletic and strong enough, I think he’ll make an easy transition to college basketball. He does everything so well. There’s not any one part of his game that is a real weakness.”
Breaking into the lineup as a freshman is a challenge Wolfe is ready to take on.
“I’m confident in my game,” he said. “Obviously, I’m going to hit the weight room and hit the gym a lot this summer to get myself ready for the college experience. Hopefully I can contribute right away. I know they have some good players coming back and coming in my recruiting class, so hopefully I can use my skills to contribute right away.”
Nelson said Wolfe will fit perfectly into the Briar Cliff system, which includes former southwest iowa standouts Ricky Torres of Denison-Schleswig, Carroll Kuemper’s Matt Berg and Ricky Williams of Oakland Riverside.
“The system we play, we play an up-tempo, fast break, high-scoring type of system,” he said. “We give our guys a lot of freedom. Jay will be a perfect fit in our system.”
But before Wolfe takes on his next challenge at Briar Cliff, he has a few more goals he’d like to accomplish in his final track season.
The defending Class 3A state champion in the 800 meters enters Friday’s Drake Relays high school boys 800 race with the fastest time in the state.
“Go win that and repeat as a state champion,” Wolfe said about his goals for the rest of the season. “I’ve kind of put the basketball up for awhile until the end of track season. Focus on track and be the best I can be out there. After that’s over, start getting into basketball again and preparing for college. Right now, hopefully just keep winning in track and have a successful rest of the year.”