Why NC State football signee Elijah Groves never considered missing senior basketball season

CROSS PLAINS — It was never even a question for Elijah Groves.

Groves, a 4-star linebacker and the No. 6 recruit in Tennessee in the Class of 2024, signed with North Carolina State football in December but chose not to enroll early. The East Robertson star still had business to attend to on the basketball court.

"Everybody that knows me," Groves said, "they've always known that basketball is my favorite sport."

Groves has never received the recruiting attention for basketball that he did for football, which made his decision an uncomplicated one — though his dream scenario would be finding a way to play both sports for the Wolfpack. For now, the 6-foot-4 forward is averaging close to 20 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three steals for East Robertson (14-12), which is trying to reach the TSSAA state tournament for a third consecutive season.

"Basketball has always been his first passion, his true love," said East Robertson coach Kurt Caton. "But success in football drew him to that."

Groves made his mark on the hardwood as a sophomore when he hit a game-winning 3-point shot in the Class 1A quarterfinals en route to East Robertson's first state title since 1989. Last season, he averaged 19.2 points to guide East Robertson back to Murfreesboro, though they lost in the quarterfinals to Middleton.

That defeat was one of the last times Groves would touch a basketball until early December. Groves had 76 tackles, 15 tackles for loss, four interceptions and caught six touchdown passes during East Robertson's run to the Class 2A state championship game, a 13-7 loss to Riverside, but he wasn't allowed to shoot or dribble while football season was going on.

"What comes back first is probably your jump shot," Groves said. "Dribbling, you don't really lose that, but your jump shot takes a minute. The longest is definitely conditioning. ... Basketball, it's non-stop going and going and going. Football, you get like 10 seconds after each play to rest up."

Caton had 11 players join the team late from football, including Elijah's brother Isaiah, a junior who won TSSAA Mr. Football after rushing for 3,085 yards and 31 touchdowns. Prior to their return, East Robertson was 0-6. Starting with Elijah's first game back, East Robertson won 14 of 17 games, though it has dropped three straight to open February.

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"We're a little bit out of rhythm," Caton said. "Whatever reason it might be, we're just not peaking at the right time."

While East Robertson has kinks to work out in order to make it back to Murfreesboro, Groves thinks he has a diagnosis.

"We gotta get better at cutting," Groves said. "Our team, we just love 3-pointers right now. ... We just gotta get in the paint more. Once we get that down, no team will stop us."

Jacob Shames can be reached by email at jshames@gannett.com and on Twitter @Jacob_Shames.