HOLT – In the hallway between the locker room and gymnasium at Holt High School, Jaxon Kohler finally found relief in the form of a drinking fountain Thursday night.
He’d forgotten his water bottle and played his game at the Moneyball Pro-Am without hydration.
This was not part of his offseason plan to reshape his body. But he’s done it.
Michigan State’s sophomore big man is a little less baby-faced, with noticeably less baby fat. It’s taken a lot of intentional work, beyond shedding a few pounds in water weight.
“When people see me, I want them to have a different image than what I left last year,” Kohler said Thursday night. “I felt like I could have finished out the season a little better. I just wasn’t ready to do that, due to lack of foot speed and strength.
“So when the season was over, I made a promise to myself and to the coaches, saying, ‘I’m going to come back ready, I’m going to come back slimmer, more muscle, quicker feet, so that they have faith in me.”
Kohler remains one of the more intriguing parts to MSU’s roster. Because he has a skillset that isn’t common among centers and power forwards in college basketball — he’s got moves for days in the post, he sees the floor well and he’s a gifted passer, though he didn’t show enough of that last season. But he’s also got a relatively common body. If Kohler were built like incoming freshman Xavier Booker or classmate Carson Cooper, he’d be in the NBA already.
At 6-foot-9 and as a modest athlete, he’s going to have to maximize every ounce of his natural skill and feel for the game and everything he can get out of his body in order to live his dream.
These last three months, Kohler has made moves like he’s serious about it.
He slimmed down from about 240 pounds to 230-ish and then started to build it back differently. Believe it or not, he’s heavier now — 242 pounds — than he was last season. You’d never think it to look at him. He looks relatively cut.
Once he had dropped the weight …
“I’m like, ‘OK, now I need to focus on eating chicken, eating rice, eating veggies, more intake, more protein, more protein shakes,” Kohler said.
More muscle. He’s cut his body fat down to 11%. That was his goal entering the summer.
It’s not just how Kohler looks physically that’s different. It’s his demeanor, his intent, his understanding. You can see some of it on the court, even at Moneyball. He sounds like someone who’s been through some things and endured the humbling of his freshman dreams.
“As much as I prepared myself for college basketball, you can’t really prepare for it,” Kohler said. “Especially with Tom Izzo and the Big Ten. There’s not a lot that anyone can say or show you that will make you ready for the Big Ten. It’s a process that you have to go through yourself. That’s one of the biggest things I learned last year was, it’s not going to happen right away.
“I remember the first game, right off the bat, I…
Read More: Jaxon Kohler changed his body to change his game 2023-07-01 13:04:19