Decision to focus on basketball paying off for Jalen Shelley
Class of 2024 wing prospect Jalen Shelley is one of the more high-upside players in the rising junior class. At 6-foot-8, he’s super versatile at both ends of the court and can do a lot of things that coaches ask him to do.
The scariest part about monitoring Shelley’s development is that this is his first year of playing just basketball without football being in the picture on top of it. He broke down his recruitment and the transition to the basketball-only life with Rivals.
IN HIS OWN WORDS
Programs recruiting him the most: “UCLA, TCU, Texas, Tennessee, Iowa."
UCLA: “I’ve been talking to UCLA a lot recently. It’s in California, in the L.A. area. I have family out in California, so it’s pretty close to home. I’d be able to visit with family. I heard that UCLA has a really nice campus, and their basketball program has been doing good lately in the last couple of years. I really grew up watching UCLA a lot. I like watching UCLA basketball. If I got an offer from UCLA, I’d definitely consider going there.”
TCU: “I talked to TCU a little bit last week. They’re really close to home. It’s like Fort Worth, so almost an hour away. I like watching them play and went to a couple of games this year. I liked watching Mike Miles and all of those other guys play.
Texas: “Texas is recruiting me pretty hard. Coach, we’ve been checking in with each other a lot over the past couple of weeks. It’s a good program and they get players to the next level pretty well. It’s in Texas, so it’s pretty close to home. We grew up watching Texas a lot, watching them against Oklahoma, Baylor, all of those schools.”
Tennessee: “I haven’t really heard that much about Tennessee, but after talking to the coach, I really like how he really likes my game and gives me feedback on what I need to work on and the little details I can do to become a better player.”
Iowa: “I talked to them a lot earlier in the season during the fall while I was still in football. The coach came and talked to me about the program and how they feel about me.”
Transition from multi-sport athlete to basketball-only: "I was a wide receiver. It used to be tough because I was working out for football everyday and then going straight to basketball while everybody else has started on their season. I’d start out a little slow, then get the hang of it after a couple of practices and games. Football took up a lot of my time and I can now use that time to play basketball and just get better.”
Why he chose basketball over football: “I started to just outgrow football and I knew that my future was always basketball. I knew if I just played basketball that I’d be such a better athlete and player.”
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RIVALS REACTION
Shelley’s development now that he’s exclusively on the hardwood is exciting to think about if you’re a basketball scout. At 6-foot-8, he moves really well and shows some elite flashes every time he steps on the floor. He will now have time to sharpen all of his tools and put his game together. Recruitment wise, it’s always hard to pull top prospects out of Texas, but Shelley seems very enamored with what UCLA has to offer. If they offer and continue to get heavily involved, that’s a school that could pull him from the Lone Star State.