Posted on 24 May, 2013

Mike Leaf, Winona State University’s highly successful Men’s Basketball Coach, has made countless trips to homes across the Midwest in pursuit of top recruits. Never in his 15 seasons however, did he imagine he would be setting his sights across the Atlantic to recruit a player like Corey Jeffs.

Jeffs, who has recently signed a National Letter of Intent to play for the Winona State University Warriors, is from Chirnside Park and attends Oxley Christian College. He’s a 6-foot-6 guard/forward, and could someday be the answer to the trivia question, ‘who was the first international player to be signed by Mike Leaf’.

Rather quickly, basketball is taking Jeffs to otherwise unthinkable places, such as in Winona, USA. Unthinkable because Jeffs only begun playing competitive basketball a little more than two years ago.

Coach Leaf, who one day hopes to travel to Australia, will now have the opportunity to learn about the country from 18 year old Jeffs, Current Yarra Ranges Kia Kilsyth Cobras player, whilst Jeffs will be able to learn about elite basketball from Coach Leaf, a two-time National Championship Coach.

In a phone interview, Jeffs said that he is extremely excited to play college basketball, but admits that he doesn’t know what to expect in terms of the competition level. “I have been told that the competition is really good” said Jeffs “I am very, very grateful for the opportunity and am extremely excited about it. I am assured that it is a great program.

Currently Jeffs averages 14.6 points and 7.4 rebounds per game for the Yarra Ranges Kia Kilsyth Cobras. His all-around athletic ability and shooting prowess from 3-point territory are what intrigued Coach Leaf. That and the fact that former Warriors’ standout Zach Malvik had kept telling Coach Leaf about “this kid from Australia”. Malvik had played in Australia with Kilsyth Basketball and had seen Jeffs play. He had worked with Jeffs during his time here and had helped him with workouts and coaching.

Rod Popp, former Men’s Basketball coach and Athletic Director at Viterbo University, USA and current Director of Basketball Operations at Kilsyth Basketball also knows Jeffs well. Coach Popp had coached Jeffs and also spoke about him to Coach Leaf. “When Rod sent me some YouTube tape on Corey that really sparked my interest” said Coach Leaf.

Jeffs started playing basketball for the love of the game. His Kilsyth Cobras Coach Rod Popp said that as Jeffs game became better, his dreams had the potential to become reality. “I have worked on my game extremely hard, and I am a bit of a gym rat” said Jeffs. “I go to the gym and work out, come home, watch some NBA, then go back to training later in the day”

“Jeffs is a great athlete” said Coach Leaf, “I think he will pick up on things extremely quick.” Watching Jeffs on tape, combined with what Malvik and Coach Popp had told Coach Leaf about the versatile and athletic Jeffs, convinced Leaf to offer him an athletic scholarship.

“Not many kids in Australia get a chance to do this,” Jeffs said. “My parents are just really proud of me. They have encouraged me to go for it. I cannot express the excitement I feel. I have been to America a couple of times on holidays, but never to Minnesota.”

“Every time I speak with Coach Popp, we chat about the weather. He knows the area really well and has given me an idea of what to expect,” Jeffs said. “I reckon it will be extremely cold in the winter!”