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Prep Confidential

Jackson's 5 Part V

Posted by: Marcus Jackson

Wednesday, June 4, 2008 9:36 AM

Each week, staff writer Marcus Jackson will pose five questions to an area prep athlete. This week's guest is Cerro Gordo basketball and baseball standout Drew Minton.

MJ: I heard some interesting music when I called your cell phone. What was that?
DM: "Queen of My Double-Wide Trailer" by Sammy Kershaw.

MJ: So you're a big country fan I take it?
DM: Yeah I like country. I like a little rock-n-roll, too.

MJ: It's been a pretty successful school year at Cerro Gordo for athletics. How much fun has it been to be a part of that?
DM: I went to every football game and it's just awesome to be a part of a program that won conference in every sport in the same year. That's something that's probably not been done a whole lot.

MJ: You fell short of winning regional titles in basketball and baseball. Was that a tough way to go out?
DM: It's very frustrating when you have a good year like that. We had a great year in both and we lost. You get there and you just want to win so bad and you fail. But it's still fun just to get that far.

MJ: With you being a junior, does that motivate you to go beyond what you did this year?
DM: I want to get back to that level for sure and win conference in both sports. Hopefully get back to the regional championships and give me one more shot at it before I graduate.

MJ: On the basketball court, it seems like you're open as soon as you walk in the gym. Is there a shot you won't take?
DM: No. This year coach (Scott Bacon) gave me the green light and let me shoot it from anywhere pretty much and wants me to take shots when I'm open.

MJ: Do you ever walk in a new gym and find a spot on the floor, like a logo, and make up your mind you're going to take one from there?
DM: Yeah, yeah. There's always spots you want to pick out and for me it's usually the same spot, somewhere on the wing.

MJ: What's up with all the kids wanting to wear white shoes on the baseball field these days?
DM: I actually get a lot of crap for my white shoes. My sophomore year, there were a couple other kids that had the white shoes. They always make fun of us because of the white shoes. And if you do something good, everyone's saying, 'Oh, it must be the white shoes.' WE have a pretty good time with it though.

MJ: Are those things pretty tough to keep clean?
DM: Oh yeah. For sure. They're really hard to keep clean.

MJ: On your All-Area basketball questionnaire, you said you like to hunt. What's been your biggest catch?
DM: Probably when I was about 12, I shot a pretty big buck. It was a nice one, so my dad got it mounted for me. It's still hanging on the wall so that's probably the most memorable one.

MJ: I bet your dad had to help you lug that one onto the truck.
DM: He did because I was pretty scrawny. Well, a lot scrawnier than I am now. I couldn't do a whole lot, so he had to do most of it.

MJ: You're six assists shy of tying the school record. How important is it to you to reach that mark?
DM: That one would be real cool to break because all the records that are held at Cerro Gordo are by the team that went to state in the 70s. To beat one of them records would be a pretty good feat for me.

MJ: Besides hunting, what's something you like to do in your spare time?
DM: Right now, me and a couple of buddies like to go to the driving range and go golfing. Mainly right now we play a lot of tennis. There's a bunch of people in Cerro Gordo that play tennis.

MJ: How'd you get involved in tennis?
DM: We played this game a few years back and we called it "Pongis". It's kind of like ping-pong on a tennis court. You had to hit the ball down and it had to hit on your side before it got to the other side and then from there we started playing tennis and now I play all the time.

MJ: Are you playing basketball or baseball this summer?
DM: Nope, I play fast-pitch softball with a team from Cerro Gordo. My dad and some other guys, some old guys, but we're pretty good.

MJ: That swing is much different than a baseball swing, right?
DM: Yeah. You have to have a much quicker swing because baseball is pitching from 60 feet and softball is from 46 feet, so you've got to have a lot shorter swing.

MJ: Are you a better baseball player, or softball player?
DM: I'm probably even at both, but I think baseball. If I had a choice, I'd probably rather play softball if that was a high school sport because it's a lot faster-pace game, it's not as slow as baseball.