Alabama signee Collin Sexton is proud to be the country’s No. 1 trash-talker

By Jason Jordan, USA Today // Source MSN Sports

Pebblebrook (Mableton, Ga.) guard Collin Sexton is one of the most polite, respectable, charming and humble basketball players you’ll ever meet? Off the court.

On the court, he’s a loud, boisterous, win-at-all-costs trash-talking competitor; he’s the Young Bull, Sexton’s nickname which is plastered across his shooting shirt during pregame warmups.

“I’ve heard a lot of guys talk-trash on the court,” said Prolific Prep’s (Napa, Calif.) Gary Trent Jr., a Duke signee who is ranked No. 8 overall in the ESPN 100. “But Collin, yeah, he’s probably the best. He goes hard with it. It’s a good thing though; all part of the game.”

Five-star or unranked, household name or anonymous, Sexton couldn’t care less.

“I’m gonna talk regardless,” said Sexton, who recently signed with Alabama. “It’s just my thing. It gets me going.”

Sexton’s steady banter certainly seemed to help him in Pebblebrook’s 99-94 loss to No. 4 IMG Academy (Bradenton, Fla.) last weekend at the Holiday Hoopsgiving in Atlanta.

Sexton, who is ranked No. 10 overall in the ESPN 100, scored 39 points in the loss to No. 1 point guard Trevon Duval.

Though the two rarely matched up, it didn’t stop Sexton from reminding Duval that he couldn’t guard him, giving off intimidating stares or clapping loudly and bobbing his head.

“It’s all fun to me; I never mean it disrespectfully,” Sexton said. “It’s funny because it’ll be all good before the game and we’re cool and everything like that, but when that ball is tipped, it’s on.”

Sexton wears the No. 1 jersey, which, if you ask him, signifies where he feels he stands among the players in his class.

That said, he understands that top dog on the court is relative.

What’s not up for debate for Sexton is which high school hooper has the best on-court gift of gab.

“Oh that’s me,” Sexton said. “I take pride in being the best trash-talker. That’s how I get going on the court. I feed off of it and I love when guys talk back. When the game is over it’s all love, but we’re at war on that court.”