Jones-Jennings -- classic tale of rejection and triumph

There are a lot of places to begin this story, a tale of grit and determination that should inspire young basketball players. I could've started at the walk-on tryouts at Tennessee State or the YMCA in Chattanooga. But I just decided to tell you the craziest part first, then get to the details later.

So here goes.

The nation's leading rebounder began college playing intramurals.

That's not a joke.

Rashad Jones-Jennings is averaging 12.1 rpg this season. (Alicia Jerome)

His name is Rashad Jones-Jennings. He's a senior at Arkansas-Little Rock. But before his improbable path to Division I basketball began, the 6-8 forward was actually rejected as a walk-on at Tennessee State by former Tigers coach Nolan Richardson III.

"He probably doesn't even know where I'm at now," Jones-Jennings said with a laugh. "When he sees this article, he's going to really think something."

In fairness, Richardson is the same man who resigned under pressure from TSU after bringing a gun into an arena following an argument with an assistant back in 2003. So clearly, good judgment was never the guy's strongpoint. But still, even by Richardson's own loony standards, it's wild to hear he once had a young talent walk into his gym who would one day average more rebounds per game than guys named Greg Oden and Joakim Noah, and that he essentially shooed the kid off to the student recreation center.

"I wanted to walk on, but the coaches told me I'd be better off playing intramurals," Jones-Jennings said. "So that's what I did. I played intramurals and went to the team's practices and watched."

Watched practices?

"Yeah," Jones-Jennings said. "I asked the coaches if I could come to practices and just watch, and they said I could. So I went to practice every day. I never missed a day. I was just sitting there learning, trying to learn everything I could. I was basically like the water boy. I'd just get the players water and stuff. I didn't have too much pride. I just wanted to be a part of the team because I knew deep down inside that I could play at that level."

Before we go any further, think about how refreshing that is. In this era where players routinely transfer because a coach didn't let him shoot enough or play point guard enough or rest on defense enough, a kid who was rejected sought humility and asked if it wouldn't be too much of a bother if he hung around a bit, just listened and watched and grabbed water for the other guys when they needed it.

Mitch Mustain, this is not.

All the while, Jones-Jennings kept working. Every day. In the gym. He'd run and shoot, and this is pretty much how he spent his freshman year of college. Then when summer came Jones-Jennings went home to Chattanooga and started polishing his game at the local YMCA. His plan was to return to Tennessee State in the Fall, take another shot at trying out.