At the beginning of the summer, Arizona Wildcats forward Jake DesJardins went over to Sean Miller's house as the team hosted a recruit for dinner, and what seemed like a routine day for the walk-on turned out to be a moment he will never forget.
DesJardins was awarded a full-ride scholarship and would be one of the final spots on roster for the 2018-19 season.
Former walk-on @jakedesjardins breaks down how he was awarded a scholarship before the season: pic.twitter.com/7ofOPmLU2f
— The Wildcaster (@TheWildcaster) October 2, 2018
"(Miller) kinda just pulled me to the side and said he needed to talk to me and I had no idea what it was about," DesJardins said. "I was like 'What did I do?' And then he said 'Hey I'm putting you on scholarship next year.' It shocked me, I had no idea and I was just speechless.
"I was trying to thank him, but nothing really came out."
The 6-foot-6, 215-pound forward from Henderson, Nevada native has been with the team since the 2017 season as a walk-on, and was a First Team All-State selection by the Las Vegas Review-Journal his senior year at Coronado High School.
Now that he's on scholarship at UA, his mentality and hunger to help the Wildcats hasn't changed.
"I have the same mentality. I'm just trying to help out the team any way that I can whether it's scout team or anything else. My teammates have always supported so for me to do it back to them, it's a very easy thing to do," he said.
