George Looking to Provide Athleticism, Power and Consistency as Season Approaches
Thursday, October 13, 2011 | Women's Basketball, Scott Carter
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Rich Jacobs can spot an inside force in women's college basketball when he sees one.
A year ago at Xavier, Jacobs worked closely with a pair of dominant post players for the Musketeers: forward Amber Harris and center Ta'Shia Phillips. Both were selected in the first eight picks of last summer's WNBA Draft and Harris celebrated a WNBA title with the Minnesota Lynx with a downtown parade in Minneapolis this week.
Jacobs joined Amanda Butler's staff in July as the strength-and-conditioning coordinator. He was quickly impressed with the raw strength of Gators junior forward Jennifer George. She doesn't quite have the height of Harris and Phillips, but from what Jacobs has seen, the 6-foot-tall George has the lower body strength of a bridge pylon.
“She is very, very strong,'' Jacobs said. “Maybe the strongest girl I've ever worked with. She'll move some people around.''
Teammate Lanita Bartley can attest to George's physical presence. During a pick-up game over the summer, George swallowed up a rebound that Bartley was chasing. George ended up with the ball, leaving Bartley looking for a tooth.
For the Gators to reach their full potential in Butler's fifth season, they will need George's muscles and her ability to rebound, defend and score in the low post. George has played in every game since joining the Gators in the summer of 2009 out of Bishop Moore High in Orlando after originally committing to USF.
She made the SEC All-Freshman team two years ago, showing promise in her first career game by scoring 21 points in only 16 minutes in a win over Stetson. She matched her career-high with 21 points in a home win over Mississippi State last season.
Still, George expects more than the consistency her stats reveal over her first two seasons. As a freshman, George averaged 6.6 points and 5.2 rebounds. As a sophomore, she averaged 6.8 points and 5.6 rebounds.
The small increase in production wasn't enough for her liking.
“I didn't improve as much as I wanted to,'' George said. “As a sophomore, I didn't have a great season. I'm looking to improve on that.''
Not surprisingly, George spent a lot of time in the weight room to help lift her performance on the court. Playing in the rough-and-tumble SEC for two seasons has taught her you can never be strong enough -- even when you are already the team's strongest player.
George worked overtime on her lower-body strength, entering the season with the ability to dead lift 225 pounds (two sets, nine reps) and front squat 185 pounds (two sets, 10 reps). She is also using 65-pound dumb bells for the bench press. Jacobs said she'll move up to 70-pound dumbbells in the next week or so.
“I just like lifting a lot,'' she said. “I just got stronger and I wanted to keep going with it.”
“Jennifer enjoys the weight room,'' Butler said. “It's something she excels at. She finds it easy to be in there. She has a body built to move weight around.''
George traded in dumbbells for basketballs over the summer too, trying to establish a 15-foot jump shot that she has lacked. If she can move out from the basket and consistently hit a jumper on occasion to keep the defense honest, she feels it can only help open space inside for her and fellow post players Azania Stewart and Ndidi Madu.
“I want to have an all-around game,'' George said. “I think that would help us a lot. If I can get that shot, they will have to respect me and I'll be able to drive past them.''
The only junior on the roster, any improvements George can make this season can only help the Gators next year when the five seniors on the roster – including Madu and Stewart – are no longer around to help carry the load.
“It could definitely help us,'' Stewart said. “It brings another dimension to her game. If she doesn't have that shot, what are they going to do? Double down on me. That's going to help both of us.
“I think this year, of all years, she has probably got the mentality of 'I'm an upperclassmen, it's time to do big things.' That's great for us. We're ready to win.''
Butler envisions George playing a key role if the Gators can win enough to make it back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in three seasons. Florida finished 20-15 and qualified for the WNIT a year ago.
While Stewart is 6-4 and more polished near the basket and Madu 6-1 and quicker inside, neither can match George's presence on the low block. She can establish position against taller players because of her lower-body strength. She can also hold her ground defensively and grab tough rebounds.
“She offers a dimension that no one else on our team has with her athleticism and power,'' Butler said. “It's something that makes her special. Jennifer is going to be at her best when the defense has got to worry about boxing her out, her power on the low block, the things she creates with her athleticism and strength.
“She has got to bring that every day. More than anything, she has to bring an awareness of how important that is for us. That awareness is going to be one of the keys for her.''
