One of the best high school three-point marksmen in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex has made official his pledge to play for the second oldest university in the nation.
Dallas Bishop Lynch High senior shooting guard Jake Milkereit signed a National Letter of Intent with the College of William & Mary on Nov. 13, more than a month after he verbally committed to the Tribe. Milkereit, a four-year letterman under head coach Kyle May, signed his name on the dotted line before the Friars tip off the 2019-2020 season against Rockwall-Heath.
May lauded the 6-foot-6-inch, 190-pound Milkereit’s cementing his commitment to the Division I school in Williamsburg, Virginia, touting the offensive wunderkind’s leadership.
“Aside from shooting the ball well, he’s a great leader, a two-time captain for us,” May told Texas Scorecard. “He brings tremendous leadership on the court. He’s a really good director. He understands what we’re trying to do offensively and defensively, so he’s very vocal. His teammates enjoy playing with him.”
William & Mary head men’s basketball coach Dane Fischer will be getting a player whose second home is behind the three-point line. May said that Milkereit “puts in a lot of time” at the gym to work on his deadly long-distance accuracy.
“He’s always had great mechanics and great form,” May said. “One of the things that he does really well is his ability to come off screens, and he can kind of what we call ‘square in the air,’ so he can elevate over players and get his body to where he needs to be to make shots.”
Milkereit can also shoot it from midrange, May added.
The coach explained that the roots of his relationship with Milkereit go back to when the guard was in sixth grade. According to May, he and his staff kept tabs on the future Tribesman right up to his freshman year when he landed on the Friars varsity squad.
“It was kind of something in which you knew he was going to be a good player,” the coach said. “He understood how to score with the ball. He didn’t get down on himself if he wasn’t making shots. He just always had a knack for scoring. He was kind of a shot-maker.”
Milkereit’s shooting has helped pace Bishop Lynch in each of the previous three seasons. His prep debut culminated in a state finals appearance, and the subsequent two seasons yielded postseason berths as well.
Making an astounding 46 percent of his threes and producing around 20 points per contest last year, the guard, who sits at 928 career points, is projected to surpass the 1,000-point mark in his final season at the private Roman Catholic school.
The William & Mary coaching staff, who May says runs “a really good program,” and the “nice” campus won Milkereit over.
“He loves the school and he loves the coaching staff,” May said. “I’m extremely excited. I think Jake has so much untapped potential with his size, his ability to play above the rim and shoot the three. With the way the game is going, he could really thrive and flourish at William & Mary.”
But first things first: Milkereit is determined to win a state championship at Bishop Lynch.
“We always have a goal of winning a state championship,” May said. “That’s definitely something that he wants to do, something that he’s told me he wants to do. That’s always at the forefront of our thinking as a team.”
Milkereit compromises one-half of a talented backcourt that also features junior point guard Imo Essien.
“Those two are going to kind of lead the way for us this year,” May said.
