Freshmen at Sacramento State are usually pretty easy to spot – they are the ones wandering around while holding copies of the campus map, looking for their next class. You probably wouldn’t feel comfortable putting them in charge of a group project in class, much less anything else. But Sac State men’s basketball coach Jerome Jenkins has just put one in charge of his entire team.

Freshman Vinnie McGhee Jr. became the starting point guard for the Hornets just two games into the season, beginning with the home opener against Simpson University.

“He’s going to show some signs of being a true freshman,” Jenkins said. “I’m just going to ride with him.”

McGhee made the most out of his first-ever college start, shooting over 50 percent from the field while tallying 16 points and 12 assists in the Hornets’ 104-71 romp over Simpson. Through his first five games, he led the team in assists, steals and minutes played and was second in scoring. Overall he averaged 10.6 points, 6.4 assists and 1.8 steals during that span.

“He plays fearlessly,” said junior guard Loren Leath. “Most freshmen come in a little timid, but he came in like he’s been here for a while.”

Leath compared McGhee to his former Hornet backcourt mate DeShawn Freeman, who averaged 13 points, 5.5 assists and 2.7 steals per game in his final season for the Hornets two years ago. A first-team all-conference selection in 2006, Freeman also holds the records for most career assists and steals in school history.

“He’s like a younger version of (Freeman) right now,” Leath said.

Jenkins said he put Freeman in the starting lineup early on in his Sac State career, and is now doing the same thing with McGhee.

McGhee said he is trying to model himself after somebody who is a Hornet of a different kind: New Orleans Hornet Chris Paul.

McGhee said the 2006 NBA Rookie of the Year and fellow point guard is his idol, and wears the No. 3 because of him. His fondness for the young NBA star began when he read about Paul’s tribute to his grandfather in Slam Magazine. Paul played in a game during high school just days after his grandfather was beaten to death at his home. Late in the game, Paul went to the free throw line with the chance to shoot two while he was sitting at 60 points. He made the first attempt to give him 61 points for the game (equalizing the age his grandfather was when he died), then intentionally missed the second and took himself out of the game.

“I just followed him ever since,” McGhee said. “That’s my idol. That’s who I look up to. Everything that he does – on the court, off the court…I try to do exactly what he’s done.”

When Paul moved on to college and played for Wake Forest, he started at point guard as a freshman for the Demon Deacons – not so unlike McGhee.

“He was a leader as a freshman,” McGhee said. “He had to lead Wake Forest – I lead Sac State.”

McGhee, who is from Oakland, has played basketball since the third grade, although he said baseball was his first sport. Growing up, McGhee played in Oakland’s CYL basketball league and then for the Oakland Soldiers of the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU). Both Freeman and Leath are former players for the Soldiers, as are current NBA stars LeBron James, Chauncey Billups and Drew Gooden.

McGhee also played basketball at McClymonds High School, where he averaged 15.8 points per game at shooting guard in his senior year. The team won the Northern California Division I Championship that year and made it all the way to the Division I State Championship. Even though he was the shooting guard at McClymonds High, McGhee played point guard for the Soldiers during the summer.

“All I did was pass,” McGhee said of his time with the Soldiers. “I had players that could score, so I didn’t need to score.”

Three of those players ended up with Division I basketball programs, including Drew Gordon, who is now a freshman with the second-ranked UCLA Bruins.

McGhee was supposed to continue his basketball career at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, but McGhee said that fell through when Pacific decided to offer a scholarship to a junior college transfer instead. McGhee was then left without a scholarship offer to a university.

“I had to get back on the AAU circuit,” McGhee said. “I was kind of on the edge and I was just trying to get a scholarship.”

Jenkins saw McGhee play in an AAU game over the summer in which McGhee said he had only five points, but racked up 19 assists. When the game was over, Jenkins offered him a scholarship on the spot.

“Everything worked out and I got the scholarship, so I just thank God for everything,” McGhee said. “I think God just made it all happen for a reason.”

Now, as the starting point guard for the Hornets, Jenkins said McGhee must be the team’s leader.

“He’s going to lead. We put him in that position,” Jenkins said. “He has no other choice.”

McGhee said that the point guard must be the leader of the team on the court as well off the court, and that he is comfortable assuming that role with the Hornets.

“My dad always told me, everybody told me, ‘Don’t ever be a follower, always be a leader. Set your own path,'” McGhee said. “That’s all I’ve been doing, all my life, is leading.”

Off the court, Leath said that McGhee is “like a kid.”

“He’s fun to be around – annoying at times,” Leath said with a smile.

The two first met in Oakland a few years ago, and McGhee said he views Leath as a big brother.

“(He) always looks out for me on and off the court,” McGhee said.

Which might explain why McGhee’s teammates sometimes refer to him as “Little Lo.”

“I’m the youngest one (on the team), so they’re always going to say stuff like that,” McGhee said. “(They’re) just messing around with me.”

Fernando Gallo can be reached at [email protected]