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SoCal High School & Prep Report

Player Profile: Jimmy Miggins
Of Riverside Arlington--(February 20, 1998)

This year Riverside Arlington has become a special sort of team. Exciting, fun to watch, drawing large crowds. The Ivy League in Riverside County is never easy, with teams like Arlington, Canyon Springs, North, Poly, Ramona, and Rubidoux. But this year, things are even more competitive. Things are just that much more competitive chiefly because of one player: Jimmy Miggins (6'-7" Sr. C).

Miggins has has helped transform Arlington from a solid, playoff-caliber team, into one of the top teams in Division I-A, and the Arlington Lions, with an overall record of 22-5 have not only set a school record for victories this season, winning the Ivy League title in the process (and for the first time in school history), they also enter the Southern Section playoffs tonight as the Division I-A overall No. 3 Seeded team, and will host Calexico tonight in the first round.

Miggins is known for his array of post moves and his spectacular slam dunks; he's known for his shooting ability, and for his shot blocking ability. He's also known as the kid who used to be a quiet, unhappy young man who came to Arlington from Mississippi 14 months ago, and who is now a BMOC. "Last year no one knew he came to this school," said forward Jesse Carlson, who is one of Miggins' best friends at Arlington, "and this year he is like one of the most popular kids at our school because everyone knows him. Everyone wants to be his friend now that he is a superstar."

Miggins' stats this season are impressive. He is averaging 28.3 points (second in the county), 16.4 rebounds (first in the county), 3.8 assists, 3.5 blocked shots and 3.5 steals a game. He has made 68.6 percent of his shots from the field and has already set 10 season school records.

Before Miggins arrived at Arlington, there were rumors (mostly started by his cousin who also is a student at Arlington) of this "superstar" player who was going to be transferring from Mississippi. That the rumors proved to be true, and also proved to be an understatement, were the biggest surprise to many. In fact, Miggins had been a rising star in Mississippi, and as a sophomore, he averaged 12 points and eight rebounds for Canton Mississippi High, which was runner-up in Class 4-A, the state's second largest division. Canton was 11-0 when Miggins became disenchanted and moved to Riverside in late December 1996 to live with his uncle, Charles Martin.

But once he got to Riverside, he immediately had doubts that he had made the right choice. He had left a championship-calibre team, had left his family, and because of his grades, was ineligible to play at Arlington in his first season there. Arlington's coach John Seydel looked into the possibility of Miggins becoming eligible last season, but his academics were deficient and without a year off to improve his grades, Miggins was not going to play at Arlington.

And not being able to play at Arlington actually turned out for the best. The time away from basketball helped Miggins mature and improve his grades -- he went from a grade-point average of 1.9 when he came to Arlington, to 3.3 this year. Miggins' mother, Rosemary Miggins, and stepfather, Johnny January, moved to Riverside in August, but moved back to Mississippi a few months ago. Miggins also has relatives in the Los Angeles area and considered attending several high-profile schools in the summer. But he stayed at Arlington because he felt comfortable with the other players and with how he was doing in school.

We'll have a report on how Arlington fared in their opening round game tonight against Calexico. Stay tuned.