Jared Bradford looks a little different this season.
Long Reach's shooting guard hit the weights hard in the offseason and added 15 pounds of upper-body muscle to his frame.
Now a solid 5 feet 10 and 175 pounds, he's more capable of banging with the big boys while slashing to the basket - a skill the senior third-year starter regards as his top strength.
The muscle is helping, because he's scoring 17.5 points a game for the undefeated and 15th-ranked Lightning. That's higher than last season's 14-point average.
"My personal goal is to play to my full potential, something I haven't done in previous years," Bradford said. "Our team goal is to play [for a state title] at Comcast Center."
With the tall, talented and deep Lightning (6-0 overall, 4-0 Howard County league) currently dominating every team it plays, a state final four scenario is certainly possible, despite having to compete in a tough Class 3A East region that includes highly talented Friendly of Prince George's County and sixth-ranked Annapolis.
"Jared plays great defense and is extremely quick," said Long Reach coach Al Moraz. "It's hard to stop him from slashing to the basket. And he would be a great point guard if we needed him there. He sees the floor well, is unselfish, a tremendous competitor and a humble, quiet leader on the floor."
Bradford, who switched from point guard after his sophomore season to make room for Lightning standout Mike Smelkinson, is also a long shot to get 1,000 points for his career, something only one player, Chris Smith, has accomplished at Long Reach. Bradford entered the season with 450 career points. He has 105 points this season.
The added muscle did come with a small price tag. When uniforms were passed out, he no longer fit into the No. 10 jersey, a number he likes and one he has worn since his freshman year. Now, he's No. 24.
Bradford, who lives in Laurel and is part of Long Reach's tech magnet program that allows out-of-district students to attend, followed a familiar path to his high school basketball prominence.
He has played in pickup games near his home for hours a day for as long as he can remember. "I was just average at first," he said.
Starting his organized basketball competition at the age of 8, he played two years on recreational teams at the Supreme Court before moving on to the Columbia Jaguars' travel team.
"Our rec team beat the Jaguars and I scored 22 points, and the next day the Jaguars asked me to play for them," Bradford said.
He played for the Jaguars through eighth grade and learned the fundamentals from coach Gene Smith.
Then, he made the Long Reach JV and also began playing for the First Baptist AAU team, a premier team coached by Tyrone Jordan and Fred McCathorine that recruits players from Baltimore City.
He plays year-round, and including summer and fall leagues, estimates he plays more than 70 games a year.
"I never get tired of it," he said. "I've loved it ever since I was a kid."
He had the good fortune to play with his older brother, John, the previous two seasons at Long Reach. John is now a freshman on an academic scholarship at Norfolk State, but is not on the basketball team.
Academics rank high in the Bradford household. Jared has a 3.4 cumulative grade point average and received a 4.0 on his last report card.
"My parents take grades seriously," he said. "If I get a C, that's not good and I'm grounded."
His last C was sophomore year, when he struggled a bit with a computer architecture course in which he had to take apart a computer and put it back together again.
His father, Phillip, played quarterback and first base for the football and baseball teams at Edmondson High, and coaches Jared's fall and summer league basketball teams.
Bradford looks to a career in computers and business and is a member of the technology entrepreneurs club at school.