HAPPY HOMECOMING: Nobles fired up for debut as Canton head coach
First-year Canton Head Coach Jordan Nobles watches Jaylen Tramble finish a drive during a recent practice.
As he led Canton’s boys basketball players through a spirited, not-a-single-minute-wasted practice last week, first-year Head Coach Jordan Nobles looked right at home.
That’s because he was home, so to speak.
A 2014 Canton graduate, Nobles couldn’t be more fired up to lead his alma mater into the 2025-26 season, which tips off tonight at 7 p.m. at home against North Farmington.
“I’m impressed by how fast these players have latched onto the new concepts and new ideas I’ve thrown at them,” Nobles said a few minutes after a late-November practice. “I’ve introduced a lot of new schemes — both offensively and defensively — and they haven’t missed a beat.
“Most of our players have been with the program for a few years, so it shows how well they’ve been coached in the past.”
Passing on intricacies of the game
No stranger to coaching (Nobles was an assistant coach at Detroit Country Day before accepting the position at Canton), Nobles said he has implemented practice and game concepts he’s learned at all of his hoops playing stops, including Eastern Michigan University and during his one-year stint playing professional basketball in Portugal.
“I learned a lot about spacing and defense while I was playing for Eastern,” Nobles shared. “And I’m implementing some concepts I learned while playing Euro ball in Portugal.”
One aspect of being a head coach that no amount of experience can make easier is telling a young basketball player that he’s not quite talented enough to play at the high school varsity level.
“Making cuts was very hard,” Nobles said, the tone of his voice reflecting the pain he experienced during his one-on-one meetings with the players who fell just a little bit short of making the roster. “I’m not lying when I say I didn’t get any sleep the night before.
Toughest part of job
“I mean, some of those guys I had to cut were with us throughout this past summer and through conditioning. I built solid relationships with them, so it was hard to have to let them go. I wished them all well and I encouraged the non-seniors to keep working and try out again next year because you never know.”
Nobles wants his teams to play fast (on offense) and furious (on defense).
“I want to play with pace offensively and I’m emphasizing holding our opponents to one shot at most every possession when we’re on defense,” he said. “Communication is so important on both ends of the court, so we’re constantly working on that.”
While admitting that nothing is set in stone, Nobles has a good idea who his core players will be when the Cobras take the court Dec. 2 against the talented Raiders.
Solid core of players
Senior Noah Tarquinto will orchestrate the offense from the point-guard position alongside starting shooting guard LJ Jelks, also a senior.
“Noah is tough, smart and he plays with the competitiveness you need at the point guard position,” Nobles said. “He’s a good shooter and he has a lot of experience, which helps.
“LJ is a tough, hard-nosed player who gets after it on defense.”
Senior Jaylen Tramble’s versatility has impressed Nobles.
“He can play shooting guard or small forward with equal effectiveness,” Nobles said of Tramble. “He’s long, athletic and tough to stop when he drives to the basket. He has the potential to be great at both ends.”
Leaping Liam
Nobles revealed his most talented player may be junior Liam Wilson, who, like Nobles is 6-foot-7.
“Liam reminds me of myself at that age,” Nobles said. “He’s hungry to learn as much as he can, so he’s kind of attached to me at the hip.”
Starting at the center position for the Cobras will be senior Alex Wassel, a gritty, go-after-every-missed-shot type of player.
“Alex is a natural born leader,” Nobles said. “He does the little things that win games: diving on the court for loose balls and setting solid screens for his teammates. He’s great at keeping his teammates accountable, too.”
Talented reserve unit
Among the Cobras’ top reserves are seniors Jake Newman, Drew Putnam and Zach Quigley.
“Jake is probably our best perimeter shooter,” Nobles said. “Drew is a shooting big and he’s probably our best rim protector. Zach is strong, with a high basketball IQ.”
As a four-year varsity player at Canton, Nobles only lost once to the other two P-CEP programs — “We lost to Salem in a district final my very last high school game,” he lamented — so he’s well aware of the importance of beating Canton’s Park neighbors.
Nobles steered the Cobras to a 3-0 record in a pre-season round-robin scrimmage — and he’s eagerly anticipating his high school head-coaching debut against a historically excellent North Farmington team.
“I want us to play against as many great teams as possible because that’s the only thing that’s going to make us better,” he concluded.
Ed Wright can be reached at 734-664-4657 or edwright@socialhousenews.com.
