WHAT HAPPENED TO THE 11 YEAR OLD PRODIGY... JASHAUN AGOSTO

Jayshon Augusto, the 11-year-old kid that was considered to be one of the biggest basketball prodigies ever, has seemingly disappeared from the basketball world. In 2007, Jayshon's father, Julio, posted a video titled, The Best 10-Year-Old Basketball Player in the U.S., showcasing the advanced basketball skills his son had at an extremely young age. That video went viral, and a new segment was quickly done on him, which totaled over 30 million views. Jayshon was pretty much the first ever grade school basketball star. He was all over the news, and people even said he was a future Olympic gold medalist and NBA player. Well somehow, this all took place 15 years ago, and most people haven't heard the name of Jayshon Augusto since. So I'm going to be going through everything that has gone on in Jayshon's life and basketball career since he first went viral. At the time of his first video being posted, it was practically unheard of to see a kid at Jayshon's age with the ball handling and shooting skills as advanced as him. The big reason for the talent he possessed at such a young age was that Jayshon was the most dedicated 10-year-old athlete probably ever. He did a wide range of dribbling and shooting drills with his father every single day. He did 200 push-ups, 200 sit-ups, and 250 squats every single night. In total, he dedicated 4 hours a day, 7 days a week to better himself as a basketball player. At just 11 years old. In addition to his gifted hoop skills and killer work ethic, Jayshon was an exceptional runner. He was able to run 100 meters in less than 13 seconds, 800 meters in 2 minutes and 22 seconds, and a 450 mile which would have been the world record time for his age group if recorded at an official track meet. Eventually, there was testing done at the Seattle Sports Clinic to determine Jayshon's VO2 max, and the tests showed that his lungs were able to take in way more oxygen than the average kid. In fact, a lot of experts believed his VO2 max would be higher than a lot of world-class athletes by the time he was done with puberty. Speed coach Mike Conlife even would go on to say if I were him, I'd go get my Olympic gold medal and then play in the NBA. The combination of Jayshon's basketball skills, running ability, and unheard-of work ethic for his age transformed him into a viral sensation. The segment done by KOMO4 News has just over 30 million views on YouTube. And that video in particular really skyrocketed Jayshon's popularity as he would go on to appear in a variety of news articles and talk shows, most notably when he made an appearance on The Ellen Show. But fast forward 15 years, and he has seemed to be completely forgotten. So let's get into everything that has happened to Jayshon in the past decade and a half. Jayshon continued to be a quote-unquote prodigy all the way through middle school. In the 6th grade, he was already playing on JV, and in the 7th grade, he was already getting some varsity minutes. The fact that a 5-foot middle schooler had the skill level to receive varsity minutes is beyond impressive and really highlights the amount of talent that Jayshon had for his age. Looking at some other videos posted about Jayshon, it definitely seemed like he continued to work out 4 hours a day throughout middle school with several pro trainers. It's just crazy to think that Jayshon was actually dedicating 30 hours a week to basketball all the way through middle school. And this just really shows how passionate he was for the sport. You couldn't get him out of the gym if you tried. The only thing that was really holding Jayshon back at this time was his smaller size. Clearly a 5-foot point guard will never find great success playing varsity, and it was concerning to see him maturing later than most kids his age. But luckily for Jayshon, he was about to undergo a massive growth spurt. He grew to 5'8 entering his first year of high school, which definitely isn't too bad for a point guard in the 9th grade. Jayshon attended Garfield High School and was a varsity starter in all of his 4 years there. He had a pretty underwhelming freshman season averaging 3 points a game, but his sophomore year was when things really started to look bright for his future in basketball. Jayshon jumped from 3 points a game to 8 and was a key piece on a team that would go on to win a state championship in Washington. Every aspect of his game really started to come together and he became bouncy out of nowhere which really helped his ability to finish at the rim. ESPN had him ranked as a 4-star recruit and he without question was one of the best guards in the class of 2016. Jayshon would follow up this outstanding sophomore season with an even better one in his junior year. He went from averaging 8 a game to 14, improving in every statistical category. And he would go on to win another state championship, going back to back. Now don't get me wrong, the numbers he was putting up in high school definitely weren't crazy by any means, but to Jayshon's credit, he was playing on the best team in the state going up against much tougher competition than most high school teams would face. So of course he is going to average less points when he is playing alongside future D1 players, one being Jalen Noel who is currently on the Minnesota Timberwolves. By the time his high school career was over, Jayshon transformed into a polished 5'11 point guard with a promising future in college basketball. He received a few Division 1 offers, but ended up committing to Long Island University, a mid-major program in New York. Jayshon had an immediate impact for the LIU Sharks starting in all 31 games averaging 11, 3, and 2 a night. Originally, he thought his success in the first year of college was good enough to make it in the NBA and he had his name entered in the 2017 draft. But Jayshon ended up withdrawing his name and decided that he needed more time to develop his game. He continued to play in college at LIU for 3 more years, but there just wasn't any major improvement in his game throughout the rest of his collegiate career. His numbers remained about the same and he continued to be a solid player throughout the rest of his time with the Sharks. Jayshon did have his name entered in the 2020 draft, but sadly a team didn't pick him up and he hasn't played much organized basketball since. But this didn't result in him leaving basketball entirely because Jayshon is now a pro trainer. I couldn't really find a lot of information about his career as a trainer, but it looks like he is working in his hometown with Elite Sports Academy based on some pictures I came across on Instagram. And the last time he was really in the media was when he made another appearance on The Ellen Show this past year. It was an episode where Ellen had to guess which kid was a former guest on her show. So why did it not work out for Jayshon as a basketball player? I mean based off of everything I just said, it definitely seems like he could have made it to the professional level, right? Well I definitely think he could have gone pro in basketball. He easily has one of the best work ethics I have ever seen and could have played overseas if he chose to do so. But as for the NBA, the thing that really prevented him from getting there was his smaller size and he wasn't really exceptional at any skill in particular. His shooting was solid. His dribbling was solid. His playmaking was of course solid. Honestly, just about every aspect within his game was good, but when you're undersized for your position and don't really have a trait that stands out, it can be really hard to get noticed by NBA scouts. Nonetheless, Jayshon's basketball career should not be considered as a failure. Because in reality, it was the harsh expectations put on him that were really at fault. He was given the label as the best 10 year old basketball player while he was still in elementary school which puts an insane amount of pressure and target on a kid. A lot of people will look at Jayshon as the prodigy who never made it in the NBA when in reality he had a substantially better career than most players ever will. Jayshon is someone who has won back to back state championships in high school and had a 4 season long college career for a division 1 school. So in the case of Jayshon Augusto, try to look at everything he has accomplished as a basketball player, not what he has never amounted to. Because he sure is a hell of a hooper and ultimately did find long term success in the That is going to do it for the video, make sure to smash that subscribe button and hit that notification bell if you enjoyed. Also check out the where are they now video we did on 7 foot 7 Robert Bobrowski. Because if you liked this video, you definitely will like that one as well. As always, thank you so much for the support, we will see you in the next one.