YEARGIN HAS COME OF AGE AT CHABOT
By Camille LeDuc
Special to Chabot athletics
Zion Yeargin has come a long way from his uneven early AAU days on the basketball court.
Today, the Chabot sophomore guard is a picture of basketball prowess who can do it all.
He entered this week tied for 18th in the state in scoring at 19.2 points a game, after being a First Team All-Coast Conference-North Division pick last season. He was shooting 57 percent from the floor.
Back in Yeargin's younger AAU days, his former coach Ryant Diew saw him as a player who sulked on the bench, was prone to meltdowns and out of shape.
"I didn't start out the biggest, the fastest, the strongest," Yeargin recalls. "I was actually pretty damn slow. But the expectation was still going to be there for me regardless."
Change happened in Yeargin's junior year at basketball power Salesian College Prep. Diew was so impressed by the transformation he called Yeargin's trainer at Salesian and marveled at "the miracle" he'd achieved with him.
High school competition pushed Yeargin to another level. So when he returned to AAU play, the coach couldn't help but keep him in the game. The team leaned on his new attitude, banked on his scoring.
"Out of all the kids I coached," Diew recalled recently. "This includes the kids in the NBA. Zion and Alec Blair (now a University of Oklahoma guard) are the two best basketball players I have ever coached. Them two are the only ones that can do everything."
Even still, Yeargin's first year on the Salesian varsity forced him to grind harder. Every minute played was crucial to his confidence heading into college ball.
He described his high school seasons as mental warfare. The confidence still wasn't there. The reps were missing and he was running out of time.
"My whole identity was kinda of brushed off throughout my senior year," he recalled. "Coming to Chabot, they demanded I get that identity back."
He knew the team had received a postseason ban, which meant he wouldn't get to experience the 3C2A regional playoffs. But a school that allowed him to grow meant more than March basketball.
"You gotta go where it's best for you," Yeargin said, "not the game."
Chabot gave Yeargin the platform to show how much he's grown. He is approaching 1,000 career points as a Gladiator.
His offensive rebound and putback right before the buzzer gave Chabot a dramatic 77-75 win over College of San Mateo on Jan. 9, capping an epic performance in which he had 28 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists.
Yeargin sits at 404 points this season, meaning he needs 96 points over the last seven games to reach 500 for the second consecutive season. Noah Thomas, who scored 480 points in 2023-24, is the only other Chabot player in the last 10 years to top 400 points in a season.
"The first year he was trying to get used to it all," interim head coach Marquis Glenn said of Yeargin. "Now he's fully embraced it. He's prepared for this. He's working everyday. I can't complain."
Yeargin's passing stands out. He reads the floor and sees the holes in the defense. He uses his scoring prowess to lure the defense and his size to set up his teammates.
Yeargin agrees with the assessment that he was, in fact, a late bloomer. As a high school junior, his frame sprouted to 6-foot-5 and his explosiveness started showing. It crept up on everyone.
Now, he creeps up on no one.
Beginning with Friday's home game against Skyline, Yeargin's community college career will be winding down. These are the finishing touches of the vision he had when he came to Chabot.
"A good college career," Yeargin said, sitting on a chair in his home gym, "and then, of course, go pro in basketball — whether that be overseas or the NBA."