Grand Rapids native leads Division I basketball in rebounding

Southern Indiana’s Jacob Polakovich plays against Grand Valley State on Dec. 20, 2021 in Allendale, Mich. (Photo | Lenny Padilla).

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Grand Rapids native Jacob Polakovich leads the nation in rebounds.

Polakovich, who graduated from Grand Rapids Catholic Central High School, is a senior at the University of Southern Indiana.

As of Tuesday, Jan. 31, Polakovich has 275 total rebounds, which leads all of NCAA Division I college basketball players. He is just ahead of Purdue star Zach Edey, who has 272 and Kentucky star Oscar Tshiebwe, who has 271. Polakovich also is second in the nation in rebounds per game at 13.1, according to SportsReference.com.

“It’s amazing,” said Catholic Central coach T.J. Meerman, who coached Polakovich. “It’s special. He’s one of my favorite players that I’ve ever coached. My wife and I watch his a lot of his games online.”

Polakovich was named Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Week on Monday for the third time this season. He had 16 points and 24 rebounds in against Eastern Illinois and 12 points and 20 rebounds against UT Martin.

He was a great rebounder in high school, too.

“He surpassed the school’s all time leading rebounder in the state title game his senior year,” Meerman said.

Polakovich, who played at Catholic Central from 2015-18, finished with 735 career rebounds, passing Bob Sherwood by one. 

Meerman said Polakovich was destined to play Division I basketball. He spent the first two seasons at the University of Indianapolis, before transferring to Southern Indiana.

“If you know Jacob and his family,” Meerman said. “His senior year, his father (Jimmy) passed away on a recruiting trip to Ferris State. His dad always wanted him to play Division I basketball. He had an offer to be a walk-on at Michigan from John Beilein.”

Polakovich is fourth on the team in scoring at 12.3 points per game for Southern Indiana (13-10).

NCAA Division I men’s basketball rebounding stats as of Jan. 31, 2023, according to SportsReference.com.