From both of his parents playing professionally overseas to his mom's standout All-American career at Abilene Christian University to his father's time as a women's collegiate basketball coach to his sister's journey at the University of Texas at Austin, George Washington III has been surrounded by the game of basketball for as long as he can remember. Growing up in Austin, Texas, George recalls recognizing a desire to embark on a journey of his own playing the game. A desire that quickly developed into a deep sense of commitment to reaching the highest levels in the space. This was only the beginning. Throughout his time in high school, both at Christian Academy and Chaminade-Julienne Catholic, George embraced the opportunity to develop his skills on the court. Sure enough, he did just that. Season after season, George elevated his game on the floor and left his mark on the game. From winning a Greater Catholic League (GCL) Central title to being named the Gatorade Ohio Basketball Player of the Year and GCL Player of the Year, George earned an array of accolades throughout his high school career that highlighted his hard work and dedication to reaching his highest potential. Yet, he remained focused.
For George, these experiences were all inching him closer to his ultimate dream—the opportunity to play the game at the highest level. He hasn't looked back since. Currently in his freshman season at the University of Michigan, George is eager to immerse himself in this new chapter of his basketball career and work towards his ultimate goal of one day playing in the NBA. Beyond the game, he is also looking forward to using his platform to pay it forward in the years to come through community outreach initiatives and philanthropic ventures. Amazing!
During your senior year, you helped the team to a Greater Catholic League (GCL) Central title, and you also earned the GCL Player of the Year and Gatorade Ohio Basketball Player of the Year awards as well. What did earning those honors mean to you?
It was a really big blessing. Especially towards my senior year, everything just kind of fell into place almost perfectly. Our team was great. We all loved playing with each other. We all hung out with each other as much as possible off the court, on the court. It was a great environment to be in. Then on top of that, just to have all those awards, to be playing as well as I was, and to have all my work really show on big stages at high levels—because we played some big games—, it was great to really see that kind of all work out. I think one of the best things too was (that) I reached a point for myself where the personal awards weren't something I was hunting for. It turned into something where I was like, “You know what, my goal is to win games and I'm trying to prepare myself for the next level.” When I did that and locked down doing that, I started winning those awards; so it was great to have that stuff also recognized as well.
Reflecting back, how do you think your game elevated throughout your time in high school to prepare you for the next level?
My body for sure. Coming into high school my freshman year, I was probably…I’d give myself six-foot and maybe 130-140 (pounds). A big focus during COVID moving to Christian Academy was weight-lifting and training. I remember I got to Louisville, Kentucky at like 160 pounds. I put on 20 pounds for my freshman year, and then I remember all of my two years there (having) a big focus on being strong with my shoulders and being strong with my body. My skill set had always been something that we just naturally—me and my dad and all my other trainers—honed in on time after time. My ball handling, my passing, my shooting, that's always been at a high level of focus. So throughout high school, the big thing has been physicality and getting my body ready. Since I've been here on campus, I've still put on like 14-15 pounds of muscle; but all that work I put in during high school really set me up. You know, it made it a lot easier for me to be used to putting in that work in the weight room, and understanding how much it benefits me because I've already seen how much it helped me out at high school level. When it came to the weight room here in college, I've seen what not having that work ethic and not having that work under your belt does versus when you do.
Let’s talk about your time at the University of Michigan! First, what were some things that drew you to Michigan?
I think it was the first visit I had with them, honestly. It was really eye-opening because I had been on a good number of visits throughout my recruiting process, I had seen a lot of teams, and the way a lot of coaches, players, and just organizations operated. There wasn't a place like (the one) I found here. It’s a staff that's coached by pretty much all players. Everyone on our staff played pro, except for (Phil) Martelli—and Martelli, he's a legend. There's just an understanding they have of the game from a coaching perspective and from a player perspective that can't be understated. The other thing too with that is that, because of that, it really seeps into the way that they coach us. We approach everything from a mentality of: “We're going to get after it. We're going to put this work in.” Our goal is to develop and to get better each day. At the same time, all of us love to be here. All of us enjoy our time here. There isn’t a practice you can walk into where you can't see someone laughing, smiling, or just enjoying themselves—it goes even when we're conditioning. We've had times where we've been on the line conditioning, we'll run our conditioning reps, and then we'll walk off and we're cheering for each other. We just approach it with a lot of joy and excitement.
You have officially embarked on your collegiate career at Michigan and have a few games now under your belt. Throughout this new chapter, what are some challenges that you have faced and how have you worked to navigate through those?