WS Chronicle

The Walkertown Wolfpack finished last season with a record of 4-7 in Richard Daniels’ first season as head coach. Daniels is hoping for more success this year and with a full off-season and the addition of guard Jeremiah Scales, that goal is within their grasp.

Scales is a talented combo guard that can play on and off the ball. He spent his first three years of high school at Glenn, but wanted a fresh start with Walkertown and his familiarity with Daniels was important to him, due to Daniels being a former assistant there.

“It was kind of like a decision I made on my own,” said Scales. “I felt like I could do something on my own, like put myself out there and get better at what I do. I kind of wanted to build my own legacy and go out there and show everybody what I can do.”

As a freshman, Scales was afforded the opportunity to play valuable minutes on the varsity level, which is something very few freshmen are able to do. He said that experience helped shape him as a player and showed him what it was going to take to succeed on that level.

“It was a good experience and not everybody gets to do it,” he said. “It’s a lot to learn and you are not just going to come in and bully everybody, you have to come in and get stronger. You will have different players teaching you different things.

“It was a big learning experience for me knowing my weaknesses and the things I can get better at. I just continued to work at those things and started to be more successful after that.”

Scales feels he can contribute in a multitude of ways, but thinks he makes the biggest impact on defense. “I am a real good defender,” he continued. “I can get to the basket and I am very athletic. I like to get all the players involved and then I’ll start scoring and do what I do.”

There are some things Scales also wants to work on for his senior campaign. He wants to improve his ball handling, three point and mid-range shots, and his play in the post.  

Scales says he doesn’t want people to get the wrong impression about why he decided to transfer to Walkertown. He says he enjoyed his time at Glenn and loved playing with his teammates.  

“It was good, and we had good team chemistry,” he said about his time at Glenn. “I had a good connection with all the coaches, and it was a good time there.”

Scales anticipates a great season for his senior year at Walkertown. He wants to leave his stamp on the program and take this team to the playoffs and beyond if possible.

“I have a lot of expectations for me and the team,” he said. “I want to win conference player of the year and win the conference tournament for our team. I want to hopefully make a good run in the playoffs this year, because our team has a lot of potential this year. We just have to get everyone to buy in.”

Due to many of the COVID-19 restrictions being lifted, Walkertown’s basketball team has had the opportunity to gel together this off-season through summer workouts.

“We are all cool, like we do little stuff on the side like going out to eat and getting breakfast,” Scales stated. “We have all gelled pretty good and I am learning their playing styles right now.”

Scales says he likes the way coach Daniels teaches the game to the players. He says Daniels’ coaching style fits his skill set perfectly.

There have been a few schools that have expressed interest in Scales playing for them next season on the college level. So far, Queens University, Wingate University, and Lincoln Memorial University are three schools he has liked, but knows a solid senior season will enable him to garner more interest.

“I just want to go out there and show them I can play at the next level and play with the best of them,” Scales said about what he wants to prove during his senior season. “I just have to prove to myself and to everyone else that I am that dude and I can do it.”

Daniels said he was thrilled when Scales decided to transfer in. Daniels feels Scales is a game-changer and will have an immediate impact on the program at Walkertown.

“Jeremiah is special, and I think the biggest thing we had to work on this year is learning how to lead,” said Daniels about Scales. “Like he said, just separating himself from being on a team with other guys that may be a little more vocal or other guys that may be a little more aggressive.  

“He is a complete team player and a lot of times everybody doesn’t have that mindset. I think just getting him to understand that he has to be a leader vocally and then learn how to take over games late and during crunch time. I think that Jeremiah is a high-level player. He can score at all three levels, he defends, he rebounds, so it’s up to him to prove to these coaches that he’s the guy for their program.”

Daniels says Scales is a “Swiss army knife” on the court due to his ability to do so many things well and willingness to play anywhere he is needed. The goal for Daniels, outside of the team’s success, is to enhance the profile of Scales and the rest of the seniors hoping to play on the next level.

“I think he brings that high-level playing experience,” said Daniels. “Even from an AAU standpoint, he has played on a higher level than a lot of the guys on the team, so he’s seen the level of competition on the top.”

Scales is not only a star on the basketball court, he is also a stellar student in the classroom. He currently has a 3.7 GPA and his favorite class is AP calculus.