A Tall Story Still Growing at Chaminade

The extent of J.J. Todd’s varsity basketball experience is one season, and an average of only about four minutes a game.

Yet, Todd will begin his senior year next month at Chaminade as one of the region’s most sought-after basketball recruits.

A tall tale? Not by a long shot.

Todd is 6 feet 11, weighs about 210 pounds and wears size 20 shoes. Oh, he is 16 years old.

“A lot of [college] coaches are really encouraged by that,” Chaminade Coach Jeff Young said. “It leads us and a lot of other coaches to believe he will be over 7-feet tall.”

College coaches swarm the big guys, and Todd is certainly one of those. Despite his next-to-nil playing time last season, he was listed as the 63rd best junior prospect in Southern California by one publication.

“A year ago, I could probably do the same things [I do now] but I was thinking too much,” Todd said. “I’d catch the ball in the post and my coach would count how long I was holding the ball before I made any move. Now it’s catch and move right away.”

Todd’s size attracted initial interest, but his ability has grown by leaps and bounds.

“He’s a totally different player in all aspects of the game, offensively and defensively,” Young said. “His shot was always there, but now he has the confidence to take it. Now he’ll turn and make a post move and dunk over guys.”

Todd, whose father is 6-2 and mother is 6-0, said he has been playing and practicing “full time,” without more than a few days rest for the last year.

“I’ve just put in tons of time over the past few months and I’ve gotten my game up to where it should be,” Todd said.

Todd hasn’t let his training schedule keep him from doing what he enjoys most during the summer--teaching youngsters to play basketball.

“It’s a lot of fun,” he said. “I love kids.”

Todd, with Chaminade teammates Cayce Cook and Clarence Mitchell, has been teaching basketball fundamentals the last three weeks at a camp at Flintridge Prep and La Canada highs.

For Todd, a Chatsworth resident who has coached recreation teams at Mason Park the last four years, it provides a training ground for his future.

“When it’s all said and done, he says he wants to be a teacher and a coach,” said Young, The Times’ Valley coach of the year. “And he’s very, very good at it. He has a lot of patience.”

Actually, patience has little to do with it.

“I want to be a kid,” Todd said. “I’m 16 years old. I’m not feeling uptight about what I’m going to do for the rest of my life.”

Young said Todd has excellent shooting range up to 15 feet, sure hands and great footwork. And those feet? They haven’t slowed Todd a bit.

“College coaches are very impressed with his ability to get up and down the floor,” Young said. “He’s very mobile . . . runs the mile in less than six minutes.”

Todd has been growing into his imposing frame for years. As a freshman, he was a tall, thin teenager with size 15 feet. In the last year, his feet have grown two inches.

“Physically, I’m not totally mature yet,” he said. “I’m still going to grow.”

Only recently has Todd started to add bulk and be comfortable with the size of his body.

“Coach Young always jokes that freshman year they had to teach me how to walk,” he said.

“Sophomore year they had to teach me how to run. Junior year they taught me how to shoot a little bit.

“And senior year, things are going to happen for me.”