TikTok star, basketball player Jake West heading to Northwestern
EAST FALLS - He’s TikTok famous and also really good at basketball. So, it would only make sense that Jake West, of Penn Charter, would take his college choice announcement Tuesday night to a livestream.
His next big move - a full ride to Northwestern University next year.
"Fit was perfect for me. The players I bonded well with, the coaching staff, the Big Ten one of the best basketball conferences in the world. Chicago is great area, and also what they’ve been doing with point guards lately," said Jake. "I don’t even know how to describe this feeling honestly. I’m super blessed God put me in this position, and you know just thinking about my younger self and how proud he would be,"
Jake has a TikTok following of 1.5 million and over 62 million likes on his videos. The 18-year-old said it all started in 2021 when he posted a video of himself having fun, dancing on TikTok and exploded from there.
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"You know, I like to have fun, I like to be myself so just was doing that one day. It went viral and I went with it so it kind of just started as a joke, but picked up on it and people continued to like who I was," said Jake. "All these people in this room have helped me, but also the people online sending awesome, positive messages and people supporting me and showing me love, so it was important for me to show the people online to let them see it live as well."
Jake’s announcement was streamed live on "Made Hoops" YouTube page, sitting beside his young brother Luke, mom Shannon and dad Matt.
"Very, very proud. He’s always wanted this, so I think a year or two ago when college coaches could reach out to him, we were like, wow this is a possibility now. This is no longer a dream. It’s actually a possibility," said Shannon. "He just likes to be himself and be authentic, and I guess that’s what we’ve tried to teach him since he was younger, but he does a really good job of it."
A dream turned into reality, and now Jake is looking forward to crushing his next goals.
"Whether it’s winning the Big Ten Championship, whether it’s going to the Tournament, whether it’s the NBA, I’m going to be going for that next goal and I’m going to be going hard," said Jake.