Daum does paperwork at signing party

Kimball's Mike Daum announced verbally a few weeks back that he was going to sign with South Dakota State University to continue his education process, along with his basketball career, and this past Friday night he made it official at a signing party where he put his name on the line and officially committed to the Jacks!

Mike was joined for the evening by many friends, team mates, family, and coaches who have helped along the way. His mother, Michele, who was his first coach when he was a fourth grader, has been a big influence in her son's basketball career, and was quite emotional as she thanked everyone for coming, and after giving her tall and talented son a big hug, expressed her thanks to everyone involved in his basketball career too date. Coaches on hand included his Kimball High coach Bruce Tjosvold, who gets him for one more season, and his Rocky Mountain Fever All Star Coach, Brandon Valdez, who took him allover the U.S. playing in all star tournaments for the past three years. His eligibility for that venue is now used up.

Not many young people ever get the opportunity to sign a letter of intent to play college sports, especially at a Division One level, but this is nothing new to the Daum family, as both of Mike's parents played at the University of Wyoming, father Mitch for the Cowboy football team and mother Michele for the women's basketball team where she wrote her name into the record books and was later installed in the Wyoming Athletic Hall of Fame for her basketball exploits. Going a bit farther, uncle Mark was a standout football player for the University of Nebraska, and cousin Jake played some football at South Dakota School of Mines.

Mike selected South Dakota State in Brookings, South Dakota because of the coaches, the facilities, and the players, whom he had a chance to scrimmage with and meet and liked them. The South Dakota State coaches said they have plans to use Mike as a stretch-4 which will allow him to roam the court, going inside or moving outside for the long range shots. At a current 6'9", he can do it all. First off though, Mike and his Longhorn team mates have a final season of high school basketball and a trip back to the state tournament. The Western Trails Conference and the district is going to be strong this season, and the Horns will need big efforts not only from Daum, but from all of the players to accomplish their goals.

Congrats to Mike Daum, and best wishes to him not only in his future as a jack rabbit, but also for a great final season as a Longhorn!