Notre Dame grad Tolbert joins Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team as walk-on

Jacob Tolbert decided that almost a year away from organized basketball was enough.

Tolbert, a 2011 Notre Dame Regional High School graduate, has been attending Southeast Missouri State as a student.

Tolbert's status changed to student-athlete Thursday when he officially joined the Southeast basketball team as a walk-on.

"I'm very excited about starting out," Tolbert said just moments before he took the Student Recreation Center court for his first practice with the Redhawks.

Tolbert was among the region's premier players during the past few years. The athletic 6-foot-7 forward averaged 19.6 points and 9.8 rebounds per game to earn Class 4 all-state honors as a senior last season.

Tolbert (Jacob)

Tolbert received recruiting interest from several Division I and lower-level programs but decided to take a pass on college hoops.

"I played basketball year round for many years. I just kind of got burned out on it," Tolbert said. "I just wasn't having as much fun as I should have been."

Tolbert's outlook on the sport changed in recent weeks.

"I was having some regrets about not playing. I started missing it too much," he said. "You take some time off, you realize how much you miss it.

"Watching the [Southeast] team play, watching basketball on TV, playing a few pickup games, it was a combination of all that."

Southeast coach Dickey Nutt, who followed Tolbert's high school career and was recruiting him at one time, said he is pleased to have Tolbert in the program.

"He approached me about a month ago, asked if he could come talk to me," Nutt said. "We had a good talk last week. He was an outstanding player in high school. It's not like I don't know anything about him. I know a lot about him.

"Any time you get a guy with his size and athletic ability who wants to be a part of our program, it's an easy decision for us. We love local guys. We're excited to have him."

Although Tolbert is eligible immediately, Southeast is well stocked at forward so it's likely he will redshirt the rest of this season as he gets acclimated to his new teammates and college basketball.

"We're kind of bottled up at that position," Nutt said. "There are no promises. ... We'll just get him adapted to this level and see what happens. You never know."

If Tolbert does redshirt, he'll still have four years of eligibility remaining. He said the current plan is to use all of them while making a mark with the Redhawks.

"I'm just going to practice -- there won't be any pressure on me -- and see what happens next year," he said.