It has been a good 2015 so far for 6’6” rising senior Jalen Johnson. He finished his high school year with Wesleyan Christian in the North Carolina Independent School state finals. He was not ranked by any services and carried less than a handful of offers.
Fast forward to the end of summer, and a lot has changed for Johnson. He attended the Spring NC Phenom 150 camp where he was seen by 247Sports and ranked in the nation’s top 150 players, Rivals now has him also ranked in their Top 150. He was selected to participate in the prestigious NC Top 80 event. After watching his performance at the NC Top 80 we wrote, “The slender and bouncy wing has seen his stock continue to climb steadily throughout his high school career and correctly so. Jalen is excellent in transition and has tremendous slashing ability and is able to finish high above the rim with highlight dunks. In addition, Jalen has developed more consistently with his perimeter shooting especially from the 3-point line. The lefty has good touch with a nice high arching shot. The next step in his development is simply to add more strength, which will help his stock even more.”
Then the Grassroots season came, and Johnson played on the Adidas Gauntlet with the newly formed Team Wall program. Johnson grew not only in name, but also in his individual stature, “Team Wall put me on a stage and allowed me to go out and play my game and be a large part of the team’s main focus. My biggest improvement over the summer was taking on the lead role for my team.”
With his ability to lead a team, he also picked up a lot of college interest and offers, “I now have 20 or 21 offers. Clemson, UNCW, Texas Tech, Old Dominion, East Carolina, and Miami (to name a few) are coming at me the hardest.” With all these offers Johnson is looking to sort things out and cut his list down before school starts, “Definitely before school starts on the 18th, I’d like to have my list cut down to 10.”
Johnson knows what he is looking for in a program at the next level, “I want to go to a school that has a program that will make me successful as a basketball player and as a person with school and academics.” He also knows what a school is getting with him at the next level, “I carry myself humbly and I always try to be that way. Also, my character is something that I bring to the table. I can shoot it from deep and get out in transition and finish. I know I need to get stronger in college, but feel I have the chance to be very successful in the game of basketball.”
As we mentioned above, Johnson has been to multiple NC Phenom 150 and NC Top 80 Camps, “Phenom events are great, they not only allow you to play in front of college coaches and media, but you also get to face your skills against the best in the region.”