Jarreau beats odds, earns college degree
Senior from NewOrleans’ SeventhWard wants to be inspiration for younger kids
DeJon Jarreau is not supposed to be here.
From the beginning, the odds were against him ever leaving the SeventhWard of New Orleans.
He certainly was not supposed to be playing for the sixth-ranked teamin college basketball and in position for a potential NBA career.
And he had little chance to become the first person in his family to graduate from college.
“I just beat the odds and broke a generational chain,” Jarreau proudly posted on Twitter. “First in the family to graduate. Hope I just started a new trend. From the 7 to a degree.”
On Friday, Jarreau traded his basketball jersey and Air Jordans for a graduation cap and gown. It did not seem to matter that the University of Houston commencement ceremony was forced to go virtual because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“It’s a blessing,” said Jarreau, a 6-foot-5 guardwho is expected to be in the lineup Sunday when the Cougars (4-0) play Alcorn State at Fertitta Center in their first game since Dec. 5 because of COVID-19 issues. “Just letting young people from where I’m from know it’s possible and they can do it.”
The road has not been easy for Jarreau. It’s been a path filled with potholes, taking him fromthe Seventh Ward, a neighborhood known for high dropout rates, crime and poverty, to the University of Massachusetts, Howard College and, finally, Houston, where he has been part of a basketball renaissance.
“We don’t really get the opportunity to do something like that,” Jarreau said of growing up in Seventh Ward. “There’s a lot of kids that take the wrong route, become a product of the environment. The environment is bad, and you have a chance to fall in line and do the same thing, like dropping out or doing this or doing that.
“I just feel it’s harder for kids to focus when you see that every day. I just want to show them that it’s possible if you just stay focused and put your mind to whatever you really want to do and follow through with it.”
Back home, his mother, Renette Hall, and father, John Jarreau, watched the graduation ceremony online.
“They had a little setup with other family members,” Jarreau said. “I know if COVID-19 wasn’t around they would’ve had a big graduation watch party. My mom was crying probably a week before I graduated. She told me how proud she is and howshe has been crying so much.”
One of the first people to congratulate Jarreau on social media: TyrannMathieu, who grew up in Seventh Ward and now plays for the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas Chiefs.
“Proud of you,” Mathieu wrote on Twitter.
In the days leading up to graduation, Jarreau began to reflect on his journey.
How he was rated among the top combo guards in the nation and began his college career at UMass, a “package deal” with close friend and current UH teammate Brison Gresham, only to leave after one season following a coaching change. How he sat out a year andearnedan associate degree at Howard College.
“No basketball,” he said. “Just a regular student.”
He thought about his grandmother, Earline Nelson, who passed away in 2018.
“Thinking about that makesme smile,” he said. “I knowhowhappy shewould have been. I wish she was here.”
Jarreau thought about the daily grind of balancing practices and classes, not to mention the road trips and early-morning returns to campus.
“Coming back from a road game, we get back at 3 in the morning and you’ve got class at 8 or 10,” he said. “You’ve got toget up anddo that. Then you might have weightlifting and treatment. Youmight have time to grab a nap before it’s time to get ready for practice. It was a long journey.”
Playing for coach Kelvin Sampson means sleeping in is not an option.
“You’ve got to get up,” he said. “It’s mandatory you get up.”
Sampson said Jarreau “takes pride in getting good grades” andhada3.0gradepoint average this semester.
“You always think where he came from,” Sampson said. “DeJon Jarreau has come a long way. He graduated. That’s something he’ll always be able to tell his son and his daughter.”
In his sixth season at UH, Sampson said he can recall only “two or three” seniors who did not graduate.
“That’s part of our culture,” Sampson said. “Our kids know that academics is going to be emphasized. Parents know we are going to push(their sons), develop them andget the most out of them.”
After briefly testing the NBADraft pool last summer, Jarreau decided to return to school and is averaging 8.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists. Once his basketball career is over, Jarreauwould like to use his bachelor’s in liberal studies with a minor in sociology to become a counselor.
He has life experiences. And he beat the odds. “I’m a great listener, and I feel like I’m a great talker and will be able to help people through my past experiences,” he said. “When I get older, I’ll have been through a lot, and I’ll be able to help people.”