Before the second season of “Last Chance U: Basketball” premiered on Netflix, before fans were introduced to Bryan Penn-Johnson and Demetrius Calip II and new East Los Angeles College Huskies to root for, coach John Mosley and his son Jackson sat down and, thanks to early access, binge-watched the whole season in two days.
His dad’s methods, Jackson said, always have been the same. Mosley has been getting players scholarships out of junior college for a decade. But it wasn’t until “Last Chance U,” which made Mosley a Netflix star with a documentary on his program, that those methods were put on display.
The aggressive mimicking of defensive rotations that leaves players in stitches. The impassioned postgame speeches that begin as a whisper and end as a roar.
“Me and him always look back at it,” Jackson said of watching with his father. “And he always goes to himself, ‘Dang, did I really, actually do that?’”
The apple has yet to fall far from the tree with Jackson, a senior point guard at La Cañada St. Francis High. “Last Chance U” spends ample time delving into John Mosley’s backstory, a point guard at L.A. Washington Prep and East L.A. College, explaining the origins of a chip-on-the-shoulder mentality that is the undercurrent of the show’s themes of
perseverance and redemption.
And Mosley’s son, St. Francis coach Todd Wolfson said, is much the same.
Jackson’s a kid, as Wolfson said, who’s 5 feet 8 with some goggles. Hates being called small. Didn’t start for his eighth-grade team.
Yet he’s the four-year leader and engine of an 18-8 St. Francis team this season. The Golden Knights challenged Chatsworth Sierra Canyon, one of the top teams in the Southland, for three quarters last week before falling 61-43.
“It’s fun to watch ‘Last Chance U’ because you see that fire in John and that ‘nobody gives me a shot’ kinda deal,” Wolfson said, “and Jackson’s the same way.”
Heading into high school, Jackson said, his dad challenged him to see if he truly wanted to pursue basketball. Jackson replied he’d do whatever it took. So John taught him how to distribute as a floor general, how to defend, how to score in the flow of the offense.
It shows in Jackson’s game: He’s a pest with quick hands on defense, with nifty touch and a variety of finishes around the rim. He led the team with 12 points against Sierra Canyon, the face of a program that continues to build a winning culture in the Mission League under Wolfson.
“We do it a little differently,” Wolfson said.
“We don’t have five-stars and four-stars and three-stars. We just got good neighborhood kids that want to compete, and come to St. Francis to compete at a high level against high-level teams.”
Jackson isn’t headed for a spot at East L.A. or a starring role in a potential future episode of “Last Chance U.” His dad isn’t taking him.
“He just said, ‘Get out,’” Jackson said, smiling, after Wednesday’s game. “‘I want college paid for.’”