Where there's a Will there's a way

Everybody has that thing that clicks. For Will Stephenson, that thing is basketball.

“I loved it. I loved watching. I lived basketball,” Stephenson said, now a senior guard at Oak Mountain High School.

Unfortunately for Stephenson, his thing was taken away from him in middle school. He was cut from his seventh-grade team and was forced to make a choice: to continue to pursue basketball or find something else.

“To get cut, especially at a young age, it kind of took something out of me,” Stephenson said. “But I viewed it as a challenge, and not as, ‘Well, you didn’t make the team, you might as well go find something else to do, like play baseball or something.’ I got in the (YMCA) every single day.”

It paid off, and he was a starter on the eighth-grade team.

“When I made the team, I didn’t just stop there. I want to be the best. I want to go out there, and I want to be one of the best players,” Stephenson said.

He ascended into high school, made the varsity team as a sophomore, and he has played a key role ever since.

ONE STEP AWAY

Last season, Oak Mountain put together one of its best seasons in school history, advancing to the Class 7A Northwest Regional Final. In that game, the Eagles took on area foe Hoover for a chance to reach the Final Four at the BJCC.

The Bucs inbounded the ball in a tie game with six seconds remaining. The ball made its way to Wes Banks in the corner, who fired and sunk a three-point shot at the buzzer for the win.

Stephenson was the one standing right under the goal as the ball came through, the season coming to a close in an instant.

“It was all the excitement and all that flushed out of you right as it went in,” he said. “It was tough. I hope to get back there.”

Stephenson served as the Eagles’ starting point guard last year, and acted primarily as a facilitator, running the offense and distributing the ball to a bevy of playmakers.

“We handled (defensive) pressure much better last year because of him,” head coach Chris Love said. “It’s nice to have a point guard who can put it on the floor and handle pressure. That was huge for us.”

That role served the team well, as the Eagles had an experienced squad, featuring seven seniors, including leading scorer Payton Youngblood. 

But in order for Oak Mountain to find that success on the hardwood this season, a step up in Stephenson’s role was necessary.

GREEN LIGHT

Oak Mountain’s basketball team has seven seniors once again this fall, but under a much different tenor than the 2015-2016 squad. Stephenson is now one of those seniors, but overall the eldest class — that includes Kris Hutchins, Jason Steeber, Logan Sheaffer, Noah Egan, Patrick Dryer and Wyatt Legas — does not boast near the same level of experience as the Elite Eight group from a year ago.

“Before we even had our first practice, coach Love called me into his office and was talking to me,” Stephenson recalled.

Stephenson was told his role would be changing, in a good way.

 “(Love) specifically told me, ‘You have the green light. Now don’t let that go to your head, but if you have a shot and you feel like you can make it, go ahead and take it,’” he said.

Like any student Stephenson’s age, he fought to hide his excitement. But Love has been extremely impressed with how Stephenson has handled a responsibility that is often abused.

“A lot of kids would take that and throw up a bunch of crap,” Love said. “They may score 30 points, but it took them 30 shots. Will has not done that at all. That’s a great credit to him.”

His ability to effectively lead the team in that manner without causing any animosity amongst teammates also has stood out as a productive component of the Eagles’ team chemistry.

 “There’s no jealousy at all because of the type of kid Will is,” Love said. “A lot of times, kids that get a lot of the shots, there’s some jealousy. But to Will’s credit, there’s none of that. He’s a great kid, and he’s all about the team. If we said tomorrow, ‘Will, we don’t need you to shoot, we need you to facilitate,’ he’d do it and wouldn’t bat an eye.”

Because Stephenson is relied on to score more than in years past, he is adjusting to some of the nuances of his offensive game.

“He’s growing, in terms of moving without the ball and learning how to create his shot without the ball being in his hand,” Love said.

Love calls Stephenson one of the most skilled players to come through the Oak Mountain basketball program, and Stephenson still has hopes of playing college basketball at some level.

“I love competition,” Stephenson said. “I love the fact that there are people out there that are better than you, but you can work to do better than them … I want to reach my full potential at whatever I do, whether it’s school, sports, anything. I’ve always had that.”