By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

CHINA GROVE — There was a basketball game in June in which Carson rising sophomore Jacob Mills threw a long and perfect pass well above the rim, and classmate Drew Neve soared and threw down the perfect dunk.

Carson boys basketball coach Brian Perry is as low-key as ever after a sizzling summer was turned in by his Cougars. He wants to talk about how good North Rowan is going to be and how good Salisbury is going to be and how good Jay M. Robinson is going to be. But even Perry admits that there are also people talking about how good Carson is going to be.

“Maybe we need to practice those lobs,” Perry said with a laugh. “I can’t recall that we’ve ever spent any practice time on lobs and dunks at Carson before, but we’ve got a guy in Neve who can go up there and get it if we can throw it to him.”

In Mills, rising senior Jonah Drye and the best-known of Carson’s three special sophomores — Perry’s son, Caden “CP” Perry — Carson will have three returners who can thread a pass threw the eye of a needle. There’s not much doubt they’ll be able to throw it to Neve when he wants it and where he wants it.

It’s an unusually young and unusually skilled trio that Carson has. It’s possible that by the time they are seniors in the 2026-27 school year that Perry, Mills and Neve (rhymes with leave) will be names known well beyond the borders of Rowan County.

“Neve is 6-foot-5 and he’s probably the X factor, the sophomore who is going to take the biggest jump as far as his stats because he’s going to be playing a lot more minutes,” Coach Perry said. “I don’t know that any of the three has grown significantly since basketball season as far as height, but they’ve all put on 10 to 15 pounds of good muscle weight. They’ve gotten after it in the weight room. They wanted to get better. To do that, they needed to get stronger.”

Carson was as strong as Hercules at Wofford’s team camp, and Carson’s sophomores, despite some temporary injury setbacks, impressed at high-powered Phenom Hoops summer events, competing for the Lake Norman-based Carolina Riptide program.

Neve averaged 9 points and 6 rebounds as a Carson freshman, but it won’t be a shock if he averages a double-double as a sophomore.

Perry will probably be an 18/8/6 guy on an average night, but there may be triple-doubles coming. He’s an explosive 6-foot guard who can score inside and out, jumps high and sees the court well.

The 6-foot-2 Mills may be the sharpest long-range shooter in the county and South Piedmont Conference, and he’s athletic enough to score off the offensive board or create shots for himself off the dribble.

Drye will be the only other player on the roster with a lot of on-court experience. He’s an unselfish guard who can score, but he thrives on making plays for his teammates.

“All of those guys have been happy to celebrate the success of their teammates, no matter who was having the big night, so it’s been a fun group to coach,” Perry said.

Perry said losing Colin Ball, was “a shock.” Ball, a hustling forward who had been a factor on the Carson varsity since his freshman year, elected to graduate from high school early and enrolled at UNC Wilmington.

His rebounds and fight won’t be easy to replace.

“A couple of our basketball guys are baseball-first guys (Maverick Walters, Corbin Hales) in the summer, but we did get to take a long look at a lot of guys in June,” Perry said. “We know we’ve got a good four, but we’ve got to figure out who 5, 6, 7 and 8 are going to be because we didn’t just lose Ball. We graduated Jay McGruder, Tristen McBride and DJ Williams. They gave us depth and  toughness. We do think we’ll be pretty good next season, but our depth will determine if we’re just pretty good or really good.”

Candidates to play major roles include Simeon Parker, Jaxson Martin, Jacob Rockwell and Eli Covington.

Parker and Rockwell have had football success. Covington is a track man. Martin transferred from Gray Stone.

Carson was 15-10 last season and made the 3A state playoffs, accomplishing the basic goals Perry set for a young team.

He’s not making any bold predictions, but the plan is to take major strides when November arrives. Winning the SPC championship won’t be easy, but Central Cabarrus will be human this time, and Carson may have as good a chance as anyone.

“One of the things for us to shoot for is getting a home playoff game,” Perry said. “We made the playoffs last season, but we lost a close game in the first round at Asheboro. I think that’s a matchup we would’ve won at home, but it’s so hard to win on the road.”