Liberty High grad to play for William Jewell

Two years ago, Nick Larson wanted to be a member of William Jewell’s men’s basketball team.

But certain academic requirements got in the way for the 2007 Liberty High graduate.

“I couldn’t get in here academically,” Larson said. “But I always wanted to play for coach (Larry) Holley.”

Two years later, Larson and the Cardinals finally fit together. Larson, a Class 5 all-state first-team performer as a Liberty senior, signed a letter of intent to play for the Cardinals, beginning next season.

“I’m really excited,” Larson said. “I’ve played plenty of high school games and I come up here about every day to shoot, so it’s like playing in my backyard. I would like to relive some of my high school experiences here.”

Trying to get Larson, a 6-foot-6 forward, into the Cardinals’ fold has been in the works for quite some time. Larson still has three years of eligibility with Jewell.

“We wanted to get him right out of high school,” Holley said. “Local players, especially ones from Liberty, are great to have for our program.

“He gives us an inside presence that we need. Offensively, he can shoot from the perimeter, but he can also to some of the dirty work down low.”

Larson took a long route to get back to Liberty. Larson played against Jewell as a freshman at Benedictine College. He played in 27 games, starting 14, and averaged 8.9 points and 5.7 rebounds a game.

But Larson wanted to transfer. Kyle Taylor, a William Jewell assistant coach at the time, took an assistant coaching position at Minnesota State University-Moorhead and Larson went with him.

Larson redshirted last year. When Taylor took the head coaching position at Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Ga., Larson decided not to stay at Moorhead.

“I liked the college and everything was going great,” Larson said. “I liked the team and it was a good level of competition. But when he left, I really didn’t want to stay and battle the cold winters if coach Taylor wasn’t up there. So I decided that I wanted to try and come back.”

With solid grades and a spot open, the Cardinals jumped at the chance to sign Larson, who now feels he’s ready to make it in the classroom.

“I’ve improved quite a bit as a student the last two years,” Larson said. “My study habits are better. I’m better at time management than I used to be. Jewell is tough academically, so it’s going to be harder than anywhere else I’ve been. But there’s all of the resources I need to do well as long as I use them.”

Larson said he’s improved his outside shooting touch since his playing days at Liberty. His bread and butter, though, is still posting up on the block.

“In high school, I was just basically bigger than everybody else,” Larson said. “Now, I step out and can shoot 3’s and get to the basket a little bit with the dribble. I still bang on people. But I think people will see that I have worked on my range a little bit since I’ve been in high school.”

Sports writer Kevin Goodwin can be reached at 389-6652 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .