A talent like freshman guard Rashard Odomes is rare in the town of Copperas Cove, Texas.
In high school, he led the Copperas Cove Bulldawgs to consecutive playoff appearances for the first time in school history. As a senior, Odomes contributed 25 points and 12 rebounds a game, won district MVP and led the Bulldawgs to their first-ever playoff win. He eventually became the first athlete from Copperas Cove to play for a Division I basketball program.
Odomes became a hot commodity on the recruiting trail. The lefty guard had a strong physique to match his ample athleticism and scoring instincts. The 6-foot-6 wing could score at ease, whether hitting jumpers off the dribble or frequently attacking his opposition at the rim.
He earned a four-star rank by ESPN and was named the 14th best recruit in Texas by 247Sports.
Inevitably, storied basketball programs took notice. Coaches from Marquette, Creighton and Oklahoma State reached out to pitch Odomes the opportunity to be etched into basketball lore for their respective program.
But calling his household, coaches learned it was not Rashard they needed to sell. It was his mother.
“They were like, ‘Who’s going to help you make this decision?’ and I was like, ‘My mom,’” Odomes said. “I really trust my mom. She’s usually not wrong.”
Donna Stewart, retired Army first-class sergeant and Odomes’ mother, served as her son’s call screener for recruiting pitches.
She did not care too much about whether her son could fit into a box-and-one scheme or if a coach could teach him to catch-and-shoot effectively off a ball screen.
She needed to see if the university and the basketball program had good intentions with Odomes for the next four years.
“A lot of the coaches were saying, ‘Team, team, team first,'” Stewart said. “I wanted him to go somewhere with a good atmosphere and having Rashard’s best interests in mind.”
Similar to his recruiting competition, coach Lon Kruger boasts an impressive coaching resume. He could have cited his conference Coach of the Year awards and multiple tournament appearances.
But he didn’t.
Instead, he emphasized family, personal growth and a loving atmosphere.
“We’re about trying to help young people both on and off the court,” Kruger said. “It’s not just about basketball. Certainly, we’re proud of what is happening, basketball-wise. But we’re equally proud of what our guys do out in the community, how they do academically and how well they grow and develop.”
With his mother’s seal of approval, Odomes announced his commitment to the University of Oklahoma in September of 2014.
Letting go
Donna Stewart knows all too well about letting go.
She raised her family in Copperas Cove, 13 minutes from the Fort Hood military base in Killeen, Texas, while serving active duty. Odomes says she grew accustomed to the small, yet comfortable town.
But in 2003, Donna had to part with her children to serve in Iraq, and 6-year-old Rashard and his older brother, 12-year-old Raheem, moved from Texas to Baltimore, Maryland to live with their grandmother.
Stewart made sure her sons were well-taken care of before going overseas.
“When you go into a war zone, you want to make sure your family life is okay,” Stewart said. “If not, then you cannot concentrate on what you have to do in protecting the citizens of America.”
Under their grandmother’s care, the boys in Baltimore did just fine. Their uncle kept the boys active by pushing them to participate in little league sports. When the boys were not participating in little league-sanctioned activities, they found themselves playing basketball on concrete courts.
“I actually had a good experience there,” Odomes said, recalling his childhood in Maryland. “It was tough at times, but it helped me toughen up.”
Stewart and her sons were reunited again after her year-long stint in Iraq and her children’s two-and-a-half year stay in Baltimore. The family remained in Copperas Cove.
But not long after settling in back in their hometown, Odomes’ older brother began preparing to leave for college.
Raheem’s storied basketball career at Copperas Cove High School led to interest from in-state colleges, eventually leading him to East Texas Baptist. However, Rashard says his mother did not get a good feeling about the college when Raheem made his decision.
“She really didn’t have the feel for it,” he said. “She didn’t really think it was a good idea for him, but he still went there.”
At East Texas Baptist, Raheem became discontent with the coaches and the general lack of playing time. He transferred to Sterling College in Kansas, where he became an All-Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference first-teamer and a member of the NAIA All-Americans Honorable Mention list.
While all's well that ends well with Raheem, Donna decided she was not going to replicate a similar situation six years later with Rashard.
College recruiters had to go through her to be granted access to Odomes. He became dependent on her for advice and eventually his commitment.
“She just has a feel for people,” he said.
So when coach Kruger came along, she had a feeling he had her son’s best interests at heart.
”It was a real strong connection,” Odomes said regarding his mother and coach Kruger’s encounter. “She had a good feeling about it and felt like it was the right spot for me.”
Donna is still adjusting to her youngest son living more than 300 miles away from her grasp. But she can be at ease knowing he is in good hands.
“Knowing that he’s in very good hands, that gives me peace of mind,” she said.
Brotherly love
Much of Odomes’ path to Oklahoma can be attributed to his older brother, Raheem.
Wherever his older brother went, Rashard was sure to follow. When Raheem had an interest in football, Rashard began playing football.
“My favorite sport used to be football, and I wanted to be a football player,” Rashard said.
But when Raheem traded in the pigskin for a basketball, Rashard followed suit.
“My brother, he stopped playing football in seventh grade,” Rashard said. “I would always hang out with him. He was doing mainly basketball, so I’m starting to do basketball.”
The siblings would scrimmage against each other, and Raheem had no issue asserting his dominance in the sibling rivalry.
“Coming up, he was always better than me,” Rashard said. “I used to always try to compete with him. I could never beat him.”
Part of Rashard’s physical, aggressive nature on the court stems from basketball matches against Raheem. Rashard would take his lumps against older brother, then unleash his talent against opponents his own age.
“I’d play him every day, then go back and play the people in my grade, and it was so much easier,” Rashard said. “I wanted to beat up on them because my brother was beating up on me.”
By the time Rashard made it to Copperas Cove High School, Raheem had led the Bulldawgs to their first playoff game, claiming most of the school’s basketball records in just two-and-a-half years. After Raheem’s tenure at Copperas Cove, the Bulldawgs retired his jersey number.
That number was deemed untouchable until his younger brother came along.
Donning number 24, Rashard shattered his older brother’s scoring record in his four years at Copperas Cove. Rashard sports more wins at Copperas Cove, but all but one of Raheem’s records remain intact.
Rashard still believes with enough practice and a few less pounds, Raheem might be able to dominate in a one-on-one match, reminiscent of his younger days.
“He probably would still be better to this day if he stayed in shape,” Rashard said with a laugh. “If he came out here (in practice) for two weeks, he might have me.”
Now Odomes' family is scattered across the map.
His mother and uncle are in his hometown in Texas. His brother is working on his master’s degree at California State University, Long Beach. The majority of his family resides in Baltimore.
But the few hundred miles did not stop Stewart’s motherly love from magnetizing her back to Rashard again.
“I called (my family in Texas) and said ‘Hey, Thanksgiving this year is canceled,” Stewart said.
Instead of a Thanksgiving meal, Donna made her way from Copperas Cove to Norman on the day after Thanksgiving to see her son play in an Oklahoma uniform for the first time.
Despite missing Thanksgiving and traveling just weeks removed from foot surgery, Rashard’s mother only had two things in mind.
“My focus is on beating Wisconsin and seeing my son again,” she said.
