BYU Ready to Leave Colder Weather For Kohler Weather
Big Man Jaxon Kohler set to come home after unique path.
In the 2010 hit song “Colder Weather” by the Zac Brown Band, a guy continually tells a girl that he’d love to see her again, but he’s stuck in colder weather and won’t be able to do the things he’s promised. Jaxon Kohler has never promised BYU fans anything, but the promise of Kohler in a Cougar jersey has left fans aglow for the last 7 years.
BYU first offered Jaxon Kohler during the summer between his Freshman and Sophomore years of high school. Kohler had recently finished a season with national power Wasatch Academy and was in the midst of transferring to Nevada power Coronado High School. Cougar fans frequently point to the fact Kohler is from American Fork to justify their hopes that he’ll play his fifth season in Provo. BYU has developed a bit of an American Fork pipeline lately with Spencer Johnson and Trey Stewart, but Kohler’s colder weather path has always been a little different.
Kohler only played at home town high school American Fork for one year during the post-covid season of 2020-2021. Kohler was the 6A Player of the Year and averaged 21 points and 9 rebounds a game. He had a tip in to send the Caveman to the semis. In early November of 2020, playing without Kohler, American Fork had lost to Wasatch Academy by 32. A month later, the two teams met again. Squaring off against Foussyni Traore and Keba Keita, Kohler had 23 points and 12 rebounds as American Fork lost by only 2 points.
Top players don’t always play for their hometown high school, this is true nationally as well in Utah, but players usually will play for an AAU team in their home state. Collin Chandler, Jake Wahlin, Brody Kozlowski and Dean Rueckert all played for the same AAU club at different times. Here, the colder weather, or warmer weather to be literal, kept Kohler from a path that would have led to BYU. Instead of playing with a Utah club, Kohler played on Lebron James’ California based Strive For Greatness. As a 15-year-old Kohler played alongside Bronny James on the most watched team in the country.
Multiple reports have BYU as the favorite now to sign Kohler pending a court ruling. Will Kohler be able to rain down on Cougar opponents? The obvious math is that Kohler is better than no one at the Center position and probably better than Polish signee Jakub Urbaniak. Kohler gives Kevin Young something he’s never had at BYU which is a pick-and-pop threat. Kohler averaged 1.17 points per possession on pick-and-pop possessions and shot 38% from the three. Kohler isn’t a pogo stick the way Keita was, he’s not a traditional NBA rim runner. Kohler was nearly as efficient on cut and roll plays last season, 1.41 ppp to Keita’s 1.42, albeit on fewer instances. Kohler also gives BYU a back to the basket threat, which they didn’t have last year, but utilized Fouss effectively in Young’s first BYU team.
The weather’s changing and the Cougars would love to focus on next year’s recruiting class. Kohler has been dominating in the Orem based Pro-AM called the Powder League. Fans and Coaches alike would love to see the winds of change bring the Kohler weather officially to Provo for the upcoming season.