CARTERVILLE (WSIL) -- Pinckneyville's Dawson Yates was a four year starter with the Panthers, scored over 1,500 points for his high school career and now he's taking his basketball talents to John A. Logan.
"It's reassuring, I went the whole season not knowing, then a little after the season, and now knowing exactly what I'm going to do is pretty good I'd say," Yates said.
The thing I'm about Dawson and I'm pretty adamant about with him, the simple fact that wheter Dawson is from Pinckneyville, or anywhere else is he is the type of guy that can fit with all programs let alone ours," John A. Logan basketball coach Kyle Smithpeters said.
"His ability to make people better, or be a playmaker, make shots, he has a lot of intangibles that you can watch him and realize his best basketball is ahead of him."
"I think the thing with Dawson, as his body develops, as his game develops and dedicates himself entirely to basketball in itself, I think there's a lot of really good things ahead of him." "He reminds me so much of Connor Wheeler, that played for us and went on to play for SIU-E but he's more athletic, shoots the ball better, does so many things on the floor at a better rate and I with our makeup with this group, Dawson can come in and enhance what our other guys at their position and what they can do. When you have Sydney Curry and Jamarion Sharp and people like that inside, I think it's really, really important to get some very strong and very skilled guards that can hit shots from the outside and know how to play basketball the right way."
Yates has the mentality of a team player and is willing to do whatever it takes to help the Vols win.
"Whatever role I need to fit. I see myself becoming a better shooter, on ball defender and when I need to step up and bring the ball up the floor, make plays, I feel like I can do that."
Yate's high school coach, Bob Waggoner, has high praise for Yates too.
"He's very athletic, he's underrated athletically," Pinckneyville basketball coach Bob Waggoner said. "They look at him because he's so smooth, looks effortless some of the things he does. The one thing that is underrated is his shooting, he shot 46% from 3 this year."
"He'll be able to play different positions and I think that's what coaches want. He'll be able to play the one or the two and he'll be able to help them in different ways by just being a competitive, complete basketball player."
