Jaylon Tate watched from the edge of his bed in his family’s spacious South Shore apartment Wednesday as Illinois played Minnesota on TV. Hung neatly on the walls around the senior point guard were laminated photos of Tate in a Simeon uniform, mementos from the Wolverines’ trip to the Class 4A state championship last season.
Laid back and thoughtful in the off-the-court setting, Tate remembered moments during that season, before he knew he would be donning an Illinois uniform in 2013-14, when he wondered whether the Simeon jersey was right for him.
His transfer from De La Salle after his sophomore season brought on challenges, such as getting used to Public League play and taking a back seat to veteran Simeon players. Some of the college interest the 6-foot-1 Tate received during his first two high school seasons waned, and his national player ranking dropped off after he was ranked No. 77 in the country by Rivals.com as a sophomore.
“There were times I would have some bad games, I would wonder to myself, ‘Did I make the right decision? Should I have played it safe and stayed where I was the man?'” Tate said. “But at the end of the day I had to fight through that and see how tough I was mentally. Now, things are starting to really work out. I’m showing everybody and myself the type of player I really am.”
Simeon coach Robert Smith is counting on Tate to be the type of player that can direct a fourth consecutive 4A state championship.
Family ties
Tate comes from athletic blood. His biological father is former Robeson and Cincinnati basketball player Andre Tate, now Cincinnati State’s coach. His mother, Arisa Johnson, played tennis at Lewis. Tate started playing basketball at age 3 and learned ball-handling early from a youth coach named Brian Parker, one of many influential people Tate named, including Johnson, Smith and his stepfather, Kareem Pender.
Tate speaks freely about his bond with his mother, who displayed photos and a scrapbook of Tate’s basketball feats in the family’s living room. Tate said Johnson taught him the work ethic he thinks will turn him into a player Illinois will value, and he approached her when he was facing changes in school, his social life and basketball at Simeon.
“We’ll stick with (this decision) and ride it through,” Johnson said she told him. “We’re going to get over these hurdles, and we’re going to come out on the other side knowing this was the best thing for you.”
By Simeon’s state-title run, he settled in and totaled 19 points and four assists in two games as a reserve in Peoria. The perseverance also paid off this fall when he committed to Illinois, a product of converging forces. Illinois failed to land Notre Dame-bound point guard Demetrius Jackson, and Tate impressed at an open gym Illinois coaches attended. When Simeon teammate Kendrick Nunn committed in the fall, he told the Illini staff he would like to play with Tate.
“We always talked, ‘What if we went to the same school?’ But that’s all talk at first,” Tate said. “We didn’t think we’d follow through.”
They will soon, but have other business to attend to first.
A leader of the pack
Players were diving after balls and gasping through sprints during an intense practice Tuesday to move past a 29-point loss to Montverde (Fla.). To end it, Smith called for a player to make three straight free throws, or the players would run another sprint.
Tate stepped to the front and made three, prompting Jabari Parker to thank him by resting an exhausted arm on his head.
It was the kind of leadership Smith expects from Tate as a starter this season, and the type Smith publicly stated Simeon’s guards were missing during the recent loss. Tate, who likes to joke around with the sarcastic Smith, understood the criticism.
“At first, I’ll be like, ‘Man, why would you say that?’ At the end of the day, I know why,” Tate said. “He’s an honest guy. … If he feels like we’re messing up or we’re not playing to our capability, he’s going to tell us.”
Smith was happy with how Tate carried Simeon during teammates’ early injuries, including averaging 10.8 points and 3.3 assists per game during the Pontiac Holiday Tournament. He also was pleased Tate responded with questions and a renewed focus after watching film of Saturday’s game, of which Tate said, “We looked pretty bad.”
“He doesn’t want to let me down, the team down or the school down,” Smith said. “After the game he took it a little hard, which he should as a senior. … Hopefully he can bounce back.”
Twitter @ChiTribKane
![When it comes to writing a demand note, bank robbers tend to follow a certain unspoken etiquette of brevity and clarity. But that’s not what happened in downtown Chicago earlier this week, when federal prosecutors say a man walked into the Chase Bank building at 10 S. Dearborn St. and handed a note to a teller that may have set records for length and variety of literary themes. “Give me as much money possible!!” read the note on lined paper in a neat, looping script that used bubbles to dot the “I’s.” “No more then $2000.” It was a simple […]](https://www.chicagotribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/ctc-l-kendall-jones-bank-robbery-01_187917143.jpg?w=455 "When it comes to writing a demand note, bank robbers tend to follow a certain unspoken etiquette of brevity and clarity. But that’s not what happened in downtown Chicago earlier this week, when federal prosecutors say a man walked into the Chase Bank building at 10 S. Dearborn St. and handed a note to a teller that may have set records for length and variety of literary themes. “Give me as much money possible!!” read the note on lined paper in a neat, looping script that used bubbles to dot the “I’s.” “No more then $2000.” It was a simple […]")
![A Carpentersville man remains in Lake County Jail as Thursday, held on sexual assault charges after he reportedly groped a co-worker. According to a Lake Zurich Police Department news release, officers responded April 19 to the 600 block of America Court on a call of a sexual assault. Officers said a man at the assisted living complex, who was identified as Everado Cardenas, of the 100 block of Bolz Road in Carpentersville, was accused of “[grabbing] the breast and genitals of another employee of the business without her consent,” according to the release. Cardenas, 53, was arrested at the scene. […]](https://www.chicagotribune.com/wp-content/uploads/migration/2018/08/23/7XZEANKDMZBJLMO6IIT6OFUP6M.jpg?w=535 "A Carpentersville man remains in Lake County Jail as Thursday, held on sexual assault charges after he reportedly groped a co-worker. According to a Lake Zurich Police Department news release, officers responded April 19 to the 600 block of America Court on a call of a sexual assault. Officers said a man at the assisted living complex, who was identified as Everado Cardenas, of the 100 block of Bolz Road in Carpentersville, was accused of “[grabbing] the breast and genitals of another employee of the business without her consent,” according to the release. Cardenas, 53, was arrested at the scene. […]")