Players of the Week

Highly-regarded sophomore Jayson Tatum leads first group of Student Sports National Player of the Week honorees in 2014. These honorees are chosen based on performances from games played from Dec. 30-Jan. 4 and they are based on the same regional breakdowns as our regional Top 20 team rankings.

RELATED: Updated FAB 50 National Rankings

Student Sports National
Players of the Week

East
Kevin Roland (Amelia Academy, Amelie, Va.)

An athletic 6-foot-2 sophomore guard who jumps with elbows at the rim on his dunks, Roland is turning heads this season in Central Virginia.

In a romp last week against Latrove City Energy of Australia, Roland had 43 points, 17 rebounds and four assists. He hit for 31 points in his previous game and is averaging 26.2 points per game.

Southeast
Darius Williams (Josey, Augusta, Ga.)

Williams gained a lot of attention in Georgia earlier this season when he poured in 44 points in a close loss to Evans.

In a 68-52 win last week over Dublin, the 6-foot junior point guard led the Eagles with 39 points. He is one of the nation’s leading scorers so far this season with 31.7 points per game.

Midwest
Grant Zawadzki (Troy Christian, Troy, Ohio)

Playing for his father, Troy Christian head coach Ray Zawadzki, Grant set a school record last week with 39 points in a 66-50 triumph against Miami Valley.

Grant (a 5-foot-11 sophomore guard) had two other top outings as well with 31 points and 10 assists in a win vs. New Miami and 20 points with eight steals and seven assists in a win vs. Bradford.

As a freshman starter, Grant set school records for assists and steals in a season and this year was named All-Ohio preseason Division IV third team by JJHuddle.com.

Southwest
Jayson Tatum (Chaminade, St. Louis, Mo.)

The highly-touted 6-foot-8 sophomore wing, who has offers from every major D1 college and could be one of the top prospects ever from the St. Louis metro area, pumped in 28 points last week to lead Chaminade past Cardinal Ritter 72-64 in a matchup of top-ranked teams.

With the win, Chaminade improved to 9-1 and then won later in the weekend to move to 10-1 heading into this week. The team is ranked No. 3 among large schools in the St. Louis area by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Despite the loss, Cardinal Ritter is still ranked No. 5 in small schools.

Tatum is leading the metro area with 25.6 points per game. The super soph also is averaging 7.7 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game and is shooting 87 percent from the free throw line.

The only game that Tatum’s team has lost so far this season was to Christian Brothers, a team that is coached by Jayson’s father, Justin Tatum, a former standout at St. Louis University. Justin Tatum is in his first season at CBC, but his son has continued to play for Chaminade.

West
Jake Toolson (Highland, Gilbert, Ariz.)

After knocking down 18.9 points and grabbing 8.0 rebounds last season as a junior, Toolson has emerged as a state player of the year candidate in Arizona.

The 6-foot-5 shooting guard scored 38 points with 11 rebounds last week in a 73-68 loss to Chaparral of Scottsdale and had 33 points and nine rebounds in a 65-64 win against Desert Mountain.

Toolson is averaging 30.1 points and 13 rebounds per game so far this season. He has signed a letter of intent with BYU and plans to enroll at the university in two years after serving a two-year Mormon mission.