Walk-on captain Jeremy Sanchez hasn’t had many chances to get on the floor during a game at Mizzou Arena this season.
He played two minutes in a dominant Tiger win against Mississippi Valley State, one minute 10 days later in a dominant win against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, then two minutes in late February in the Tigers’ win against South Carolina and 30 seconds in a final appearance on senior night against Kentucky.
But the captain has still played a major role in helping the Tigers as he rejoined Dennis Gates’ team after two years separated from his former Cleveland State mentor.
“When coach Gates first called me to come back, that was one of his expectations for me to be a leader,” Sanchez said. “So from Day 1, I really tried to come in and do everything I could to push the guys in a positive direction, whether that’s my voice or energy in the locker room, energy at the apartments or whatever it may be.”
Sanchez said a major part of his role has been building relationships with his teammates. He said as a sixth-year player who has made multiple stops along the way, he’s found the relationships with his teammates and the bonds he can create help keep a team together.
“From Day 1, that’s what I was really pushing,” Sanchez said.
Gates has talked many times about the importance of Sanchez and what he has meant, not just to this year’s Tiger team, but to the Cleveland State team Gates built before coming to Columbia.
“There’s no better captain to have than Jeremy Sanchez,” Gates said. “... Jeremy Sanchez has a story and he has an unbelievable, infectious personality within his team. And he was on the first team I ever coached and I wasn’t afraid to start him as a walk-on in my first season coaching and obviously, him back in the locker room, having him here on this ride, that means something to me because he was a part of turning around something previously, so when you look at the turnaround, I just look at having the right guys, the right personalities in the locker room.”
Sanchez’s career began at Cleveland State in 2019, where he joined Gates as a walk-on and played three seasons before transferring to Division II Saint Leo University for two seasons.
But an injured foot earned Sanchez another year of eligibility, allowing him to re-join Gates in Columbia this season.
“I worked in construction with my father,” Sanchez said. "I did concrete in the summers and we just got done playing March Madness, and I thought I was in the best shape of my life, best basketball of my life and I felt really good. And you know, it’s just an unfortunate circumstance that happened. I got run over by an excavator, broke my foot. Had to get surgery, … I tried to come back and play that year with the plates in my foot, they said I probably wouldn’t be able to, but I’m hard headed, so I still tried to do it anyway. Coach Gates was really supportive this whole process … I ended up having to get another redshirt that year, but Gates was really supportive of me and he knew that I was helping my father work, so it wasn’t too much of trouble.”
With an insight into Gates’ first year as a head coach, Sanchez said Gates is still the same man he was when he took over at Cleveland State. He said Gates has grown as the program has grown, but he has remained the same person at heart, which is what Sanchez appreciates.
And Sanchez said though he played two seasons apart from Gates, their connection never faded.
“We stayed in contact, you know, happy birthday, happy Father’s Day and certain things like that, staying in touch,” Sanchez said. “So I really appreciate him keeping that connection with me and I try to maintain that with him as well through all the ups and downs that both of us have had. And I think that’s why it was so important for me to come back and spend my last year here and help him build something because of that connection we had. And the same goes for the entire staff, because we’re all really tight-knit and we built something great at Cleveland State and I knew what they’re building here. It was a no-brainer for me to come join him. So I’m really proud of him, I’m proud of the staff and I’m just grateful I’m able to be a part of it.”
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