The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
Surrounded by friends, family and well-wishers in the Franklin High School gym, Lady Warrior Precious Wheeler on November 13 made it official: She’ll be playing for the Rutgers University Lady Knights next year.
After announcing her intention in September, Wheeler signed her commitment papers on the same boards that helped her earn the Rutgers jersey, as well as offers from schools such as Seton Hall and Temple.
Wheeler was just coming into her stride when an injury benched her in the 2023-24 season. Prior to that, in her Sophomore year, she averaged 9.9 points per game, racking up 237 points in 24 games.
The 6″3′ center also proved strong on the boards her Sophomore year, averaging 7.5 rebounds per game.
“This is such an exciting experience,” she said. “Knowing my journey from the 7th Grade, knowing that I wasn’t always good and that I’m just now starting to really get into my flow, coming off of an injury, so I wasn’t playing all last year; this is just a great feeling, knowing that people are still here, still supporting me.”
“I wouldn’t have done it without my team, though.” she said. “Without my team, without the people in Franklin, Coach (Audrey) Taylor, Coach Darryl (Robinson), all my trainers, Franklin Middle School, where it all started.”
Wheeler said she’s “super excited” to be going to Rutgers.
“Coach (Coquese Washington) is a great coach,” she said. “I’ll be filling in for Destiny Adams and Chyna (Cornwell). So, you know, they’re graduating this year, I’ll be coming in, hopefully. By the time I’m there, I should be A-OK with my knee, and I should be producing for them, helping them out a lot.”
Wheeler also predicted big things for teh FHS Lady Warriors this season.
“We’re going to be crazy good,” she said. “As long as we stay mentally tough, we’re going to be good. Our chemistry is amazing right now. We’ve been hanging out since the end of last year. We go out often together, you know we do little things together, we go out to eat, all that.”
“We’re gonna be great honestly,” she said. “We have skill, we have height, we have the chemistry. Yeah it’s just something that you gotta come out and watch.”
Wheeler’s mom, Ameela, said her daughter dreamed of going to Rutgers since she was in the 5th Grade.
“It hasn’t been necessarily easy for her, you know what I mean?” Ameela Wheeler said of her daughter. “Because she’s always had it rough for being the tallest in her class, and she just didn’t know how to channel all that energy. We got her into basketball. and she took off from there.”
“Her personality shows through,” she said. “She’s a leader, she’s an excellent daughter, she’s an excellent friend, everything that she does, everything she touches, she turns it into gold.”
“I am extremely proud of her,” Ameela Wheeler said.
Her father, Saviour Wheeler, said he was “overwhelmed” by what’s happened with his daughter.
“I’m prideful, I’m happy,” he said. “Actually, I’m glad to get it over with, but no, I’m really proud. She’s a really good kid.”
The process getting her to this point was “grueling,” Saviour Wheeler said.
“Well, particularly because she got injured midway in her career,” he said. “It was one of those things where it’s constant running. You go to work, you come home, you’ve got more work to do because she has a three-hour training or practice to get to.”
“Then she gets injured,” he said. “So you deal with not only the physical toll it takes on you but the mental toll it takes on you. So it’s been grueling, but like I said, there’s some light at the end of the tunnel.”
As for his daughter attending Rutgers?
“I’m a New Jersey Institute of Technology Highlander graduate, so I’m trading in that scarlet red for this scarlet red,” he said. “It’s a great school, it’s close, it has a great tradition, it’s everything she wanted.”
