Morgan County senior Zeki Locus has confirmed his plans and intends to continue his basketball career in-state.
The Dogs’ former guard signed his letter of intent in the school’s auditorium on April 17 and is set to play at Piedmont University in Demorest.
As a four-year varsity player for Morgan County, Locus was a key component on the Dogs’ roster, helping lead the team to its GHSA Class 2A state championship victory in overtime against Butler in March.
Locus said his recruitment process began nearly a year ago and continued steadily through his senior season. He made his decision public in recent weeks, but gave a silent commit to the Lions before the postseason began.
“(Piedmont) started recruiting me about a year ago when I was playing basketball, and I went on my first visit during football season. Over the past few months, we just stayed in touch,” Locus said. “I had already verbally committed [to Piedmont] before the playoffs started, and just didn’t want to make it public yet because I don’t really like the attention.”
Locus believes that choosing to commit early helped him focus fully on the playoff run, where he played a key role, and was named the state title game’s MVP. He credits the championship season as a team effort, and said the difference from the prior season was having “different responses to the same distractions.”
“It’s a team sport, you need everybody, whether they play or not. You can have selfish moments, but it’s about how you respond and handle adversity,” Locus said. “We had players removed from the team late in the season, but we didn’t let that affect us. We still played as a whole.”
Locus credits his development in high school to his relationship with Morgan County head coach Cody Anderson. Locus said, despite the two having a few bumps in the road at times, he learned why it was important to step up for his younger teammates.
“Coach Anderson and I bumped heads a lot early on,” Locus said. “Over time, we learned how to communicate and understand each other, and it helped me realize I needed to step up and be a leader.”
Locus said he is looking forward to the challenge of college basketball and to facing a new level of competition. He noted that he is excited to face the tougher competition, knowing it will be a test.
Overall, he hopes to use his college basketball experience in the future, helping the younger generation through coaching, and becoming a teacher as well. He added he hopes to give back to the community and allow students to experience a similar high school basketball experience.
“I want to give back and help the younger generation, so they can look up and see that I’ve already been in the same position that they are in currently,” Locus said. “I hope they can see that it doesn’t matter where you come from — you can achieve anything.”