Bloody-Red JR 

5th-grade JR Bates from Pickerington, Ohio, is a top-20 player nationally on MSE and also a skillful, heady point-guard with court-vision and a lockdown defender.

Bate’s is a student if the game. His dad is a high school basketball coach at Pickerington North.

Class-of-2025 Bates attends Tollgate Middle School as a straight-A student, and dream colleges are UCLA and the University of North Carolina.

When Bates grows up, he wants to become a professional athlete or teacher.