WATERVILLE — T.J. Maines can still remember seeing Jarrad DeVaughn play a high school game in Boston. Maines had gotten a tip from Stonehill College coach Dave McLaughlin — a former teammate of Maines at Colby — so he decided to check the kid out.
“I went down to see him play. I think they were playing in the Division I South finals,” Maines said. “Off the tip, he made a 25-foot 3. He had two post moves — he might have even dunked on a guy. At halftime, he had like 20 points.
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“I called Dave and I was like, ‘You’re crazy, because there’s no way in heck we’re getting this guy to come to Thomas.’ ”
But DeVaughn ended up coming to Waterville, and even better, he ended up staying. As a sophomore last season, the 6-foot-2 guard averaged 21.0 points and 7.4 rebounds per game. Last month, DIII News named him an honorable mention preseason All-American.
DeVaughn is from Brockton, Mass., best known for producing 1950s heavyweight boxing champion Rocky Marciano. In high school, he didn’t look like a player who might head to any Division III school, let alone one in Maine. DeVaughn himself was hoping to start at a prep school, then get a scholarship somewhere.
“What kid doesn’t have big hopes?” DeVaughn said. “But reality sets in. The AAU circuit really wasn’t good at the time. The team broke up. A lot of things were going south. It was hard to finally say that going D-3 could have been a thing, but maybe if I went to another school, I’d be on the bench right now.”
“He was very clearly not a Division III player,” Maines said, “so other Division III schools were going, ‘Why waste our time?’ I just figured, ‘What the hell? We’ll take a shot at it.’ ”
While DeVaughn eventually decided to come to Thomas, he did clash with Maines at times during his early days at the school.
“Not everything’s always been easy for him here or for he and I together, but it’s a much smoother road now,” Maines said. “Academically, he’s improving every semester.
“I didn’t like everything that he did on the floor. He probably didn’t like everything that I had for an answer for what he was doing on the floor. We found a way to work those things out and work through it.”
Maines originally told DeVaughn and his family, “Give me two years, and then I’ll do everything I can to help him get a scholarship.” When that didn’t happen after DeVaughn’s sophomore year, Thomas won out by bringing back perhaps the top player in the North Atlantic Conference. DeVaughn added the 3-pointer as a consistent weapon last season, going from 26 percent shooting from long range as a freshman to 44 percent last winter.
“He put the time in to get better,” Maines said. “He got stronger this summer. He can score. He can score a lot very quickly. He’s an exceptional rebounder for a guard. He’s got all the tools that you could want to have. (His) talent and athleticism level, strength level — you don’t see a lot of guys like him in Division III.”
DeVaughn was also named a captain this season, which speaks to his respect and stature on the team.
“He’s a good kid to be around,” Maines said. “He’s always been super-polite. He’s always got a smile.”
Since he is a captain and the star, Maines is hoping that DeVaughn can help put the Terriers in a position where they can contend for the NAC championship. Thomas was eliminated in the semifinals last season, but was picked first in this year’s preseason coaches poll.
“I want him to lead us, on the court, off the court,” Maines said. “I want him to have the kind of success that he would like to have personally. But most importantly, I want him to lead us to the team success that we want.”
“We’ve got about seven returning sophomores, only three upperclassmen, and a lot of freshmen coming in that I think are going to see the floor,” DeVaughn said. “If we can get it going first semester coming into league play, and if we can really jell, learn the offense, learn what Coach is doing defensively, I think we can be a good team. It’s going to take some time.”
For DeVaughn, the individual goal isn’t necessarily to be one of the top Division III players in New England. He wants to be thought of as one of the top D-III players in the country.
“I look at some of the guys that I’ve seen play,” DeVaughn said. “I’ve played with a lot of guys who ended up on college Division I teams, won national championships. I put myself up there.”
You might read that and think he sounds very sure of himself and his abilities. But that’s the point.
“I think confidence shows on the court,” DeVaughn said. “If you’re confident, you’re going to shoot that ball when you catch it. You don’t think about it. I don’t think it’s being over-confident, cocky. I’ve heard that phrase, but I don’t think it’s like that. I just think it’s the way you gotta play the game. You gotta look at yourself as one of the best, or you’re just going to be looked at as another second place.”
Matt DiFilippo — 861-9243
mdifilippo@centralmaine.com
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