RJ Felton made an impact the game every time he stepped on the court for Aiken High School. Even if he wasn’t scoring, he’d get a rebound and get into transition. If teams collapsed on him, he’d add to his assist total.
But if he needed to score, Felton could do that, too.
“The way I describe my game, I score when I want to,” Felton said. ”... It’s best to be a two-way player. You can play defense and offense, rebound the ball, help others out, get others the opportunity to shoot and contribute.”
Felton’s ability to be dynamic for Aiken in his junior season earned him South Carolina High School League Region 5-AAAA player of the year and The Augusta Chronicle’s South Carolina boys basketball player of the year.
As a junior and a new face on the team, Felton quickly emerged as a leader for Aiken. It wasn’t a difficult task, but rather different. On a senior led team, he had to learn how to lead in the background.
“I took the back seat, but I always had to be a leader,” Felton said. “Even though I was one of the best players on the team, I still had to be a leader. I had to listen and learn as a player and follow as the seniors lead.”
Having to take a step back this year is going to help him full step into the leader role next season. As a junior he was the leader on an older team As a senior, he’ll be a leader on a younger team.
The season didn’t end like Felton or Aiken wanted it to. But from an early exit Felton learned what his senior season is going to hold. Aiken coach Darris Jackson said not even a month after the season was over the team was back in the gym, preparing in the offseason.
“He might practice harder than he plays and that’s something, that’s a special thing about him,” Jackson said.
Felton may be soft spoken, but his play on the court speaks volume. Though he did average 22 points per game, it’s the eight rebounds per game and three assists per game that mean more. His ability to impact the game in more ways than one is what will factor into the success of his senior year.
“That’s a big time characteristic for a young player, for a prospect too,” Jackson said. “I think that’s one of the things that don’t get mentioned enough about him that’s definitely going to translate to the next level. The other stuff. If you can do the other stuff, you can play at any level.”
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