Who is NC State’s New Point Guard Jarkel Joiner?

NC State has a new Point Guard heading into the 2022-23 College Basketball season…Graduate Transfer Jarkel Joiner.

Joiner finds himself as a starting Point Guard in the ACC, but that was not always in the cards.

As a High School player at Oxford High School in Oxford, Mississippi, Joiner was an unranked and unrated prospect in the major recruiting databases, with no stars or numbers attached to his name.

What is strange about this was the fact that Joiner averaged 36.5 points per game as a Senior at Oxford, ranking 4th in the nation, and was named the Mississippi Player of the Year by The Daily Journal.

Without receiving many scholarship offers despite his gaudy numbers, Joiner went to California State University Bakersfield, where he played his first two years of collegiate basketball.

As a Freshman, he was CSU Bakersfield’s 3rd leading scorer, averaging 10.4 points per game. As a Sophomore, Joiner averaged 15.6 points per game, but averaged 18.6 points per game in conference play, becoming the first player in CSU Bakersfield history to lead the conference in scoring. Joiner earned All-WAC honors in 2018-19, breaking the school’s record for points scored in a single season.

After 2 years in California, the Mississippi native came back home, transferring to Ole Miss. After sitting out the 2019-20 season due to the NCAA Transfer rules at the time, Joiner made an immediate impact in his first season as a member of the Rebels as a Junior, starting in 24 of the 28 games he played in.

In 2020-21, Joiner ranked 2nd on Ole Miss in scoring, putting up 12.0 points per game. As a Senior, in 2021-22, Joiner started in 17 of the 22 games he played in, leading the Rebs in scoring average per game (13.2). He also boasted an assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.55.

From an unranked player in high school, to setting the single season scoring record at CSU Bakersfield, to leading Ole Miss in scoring as a Senior, the Wolfpack now have a veteran Point Guard who has defied the odds, and has been successful wherever he has stepped on the court.

One of the glaring holes on NC State’s team last year was Point Guard play.

Joiner seems like a great answer to fill that void for the Wolfpack.