Ja Morant and Zion played on the same AAU team.
"The summer before Morant was a sophomore in high school and Williamson was a freshman, they played on a small regional grassroots team called the South Carolina Hornets that did not have any shoe-company backing. Williamson (from Spartanburg, S.C.) and Morant (from Dalzell, S.C.) lived nearly 90 minutes apart; the program was based out of Columbia, S.C., and they'd each drive about 45 minutes for practices, games, etc.
It was during that summer with the Hornets that Williamson had his first burst of fame on the recruiting circuit.
"Zion was always a mild-mannered kid, never showed much expression," Tee Morant, Ja's father, told CBS Sports. "He was probably 6-foot-3 then. He had hops, but he didn't have the hops that he possesses now."
Still, he was dunking by then -- as was Morant, whose first slam in a game came at 14 playing with Williamson. It was a notable tournament in Greensboro, N.C., that sent the two on forking paths.
"I guess the rest of the athleticism had to kick in, but he was catching alley-oops from Ja then," Tee Morant said. "I think the game he really opened a lot of people's eyes, one kid went up for a layup and he tried to put it high off the glass and Zion looked like he went to the top of the square and pinned it. It was a big tournament, everyone went crazy, and that went viral."
After one go-around, Williamson went on to the Adidas circuit while Morant stayed behind with the humble Hornets. And yet, before Murray State offered, the only schools who came along with a scholarship in hand were Maryland Eastern Shore,
Duquesneand
South Carolina State.