Getting to Know JaKarr Sampson Interview [JohnnyJungle.com]

Steve Lavin took the job at St. John’s to turn the program around and bring it back to prominence. After assembling an elite coaching staff, bringing in Dwayne Polee, Lavin began focusing on the 2011 recruiting class. Queens, New York native Maurice Harkless, a top 75 recruit was the first to board the Lavin “Arc.” Last week the St. John’s Red Storm welcomed the 6-7 dynamic forward JaKarr Sampson to the family.

Jakarr Sampson at the Lebron James Skills Camp this summer. (Chuck Crow/The Plain Dealer)
Sampson, a consensus top 50 player in the 2011 class made his decision on ESPNU on Thursday, September 16th and gave even more hope to the future of St. John’s. “He’s versatile and demonstrates a high skill level, which makes him a difficult matchup for opponents,” said Brewster Academy coach Jason Smith. Now that Sampson has made his decision, which he told me “felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders,” he was nice enough to take some time out and let us get know him a little better.


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Nice job getting this done.  Seems like a good kid who is excited to wear the red and white. 

1 thing that stood out to me was his comment about playing the 3.  I'm curious what Lavin has told all these guys that doesn't deter them from coming here.  Overall real excited to have JaKarr!

JaKarr was a really nice and funny kid. Getting in touch with him was no problem, he was very receptive and is really happy to be apart of the family.

He called me "family" multiple times and he is really looking forward to playing in the red and white.

JaKarr sounds like a great kid and I am psyched to have such an elite prospect coming to St. John's!  Along with Harkless, and Polee who is already here, we have an awesome young core.

In terms of positions, I think you see less defined roles on offense between the 2-3-4 as the players we are getting are so multi-talented and interchangeable in terms of height/length/athleticism.