Mt. Zion senior Jairus “J.R.” Holder felt like the Jacksonville Dolphins basketball team really valued team success so he decided to officially sign his Letter of Intent with the school last Wednesday night.

“It’s a family,” Holder said. “Everybody wants to win. They don’t care who scores and what not.”

“This is a great moment,” Mt. Zion boys’ basketball coach Maurice Triche said. “They have a great program and a great coach. They are a team that’s on the way up. Coach [Cliff Warren] already told him ‘I plan to bring you in to start.’”

Holder, a 6-foot-6 shooting guard who averaged 25 points, seven rebounds, five blocks and four assists, chose Jacksonville over Ole Miss, Tennessee State and USC Upstate.

“I want to go in and contribute right away,” Holder said. “Make the team better with my intensity, defense and a lot of rebounding.”

“He is very humble,” Triche said. “This is a stepping stone. He leads by example more than he does vocally. If you are in a room with him and a bunch of other guys, you wouldn’t know he is there. But when he gets on that court or he’s in the classroom, he leads by example.”

Now, all Holder has to worry about is the 2012-13 season and helping the Bulldogs bounce back from a disappointing 4-22 record last year.

“It’s a lot off my chest,” Holder said. “I can breathe now. All I have to do now is focus on playing.”

“Last year was a learning experience,” said Triche, who is in his second year as head coach.

During the offseason, Holder, who also plays for the AAU squad Team Georgia Elite, spent a lot of time working on his footwork and watching the footwork of Kevin Durant and Kobe Bryant.

“I like watching their footwork to see what they do and model my game after theirs’,” he said.

With this approach, Triche believes Holder has the potential to play on the same level as some of his favorite players.

“He continues to get better every day,” Triche said. “He is out there working hard on his shooting, free throws and ball handling. He’s never satisfied. With that type of work ethic, we believe he can have a shot at the NBA.”

Holder has a 3.0 grade-point average and an interest in sports medicine.