Monmouth's Jesse Steele Earns Scholarship For Final Season
8/1/2012
West Long Branch, NJ -- Monmouth University head coach King Rice announced on Tuesday, that rising-senior Jesse Steele has earned the Hawks' final scholarship available for the 2012-13 season. Steele, who transfered to Monmouth from the U.S. Military Academy following his first semester, joined the roster as a walk-on prior to his sophomore year.
"I am very happy to give our final scholarship to Jesse," stated Rice, who enters his second season as the head coach of the Hawks. "Jesse has shown us in the time that we have been here that he deserves to be on scholarship. He has put in the work to have a great senior season. He has worked for this, and has earned it, and is a great leader for this program."
Steele commented, "It has always been a goal of mine to earn an athletic scholarship. I have been working hard for the past three years to try and earn it and it feels good that I did it."
When asked what it means to him to have his hard work rewarded, Steele stated, "It means a lot. It shows the coaches really care about me, and it shows they have really seen me improve and work hard."
Steele, who played in 18 games as a sophomore with the Blue and White, started all 32 games as a junior, and led the Hawks in scoring and assists. The guard, who posted a career-high 25 points at Vanderbilt in late November, ranked 19th in the Northeast Conference in scoring at 12.6 points per game. Steele also ranked sixth in the conference with 4.16 assists per game average, dishing out 133 assists, which ranks ninth in MU's single-season history.