Auburn basketball: Recruiting Jalen Green
By Jay Phillips
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Auburn basketball’s 2020 recruiting class has been a roller coaster. Auburn had the slow and steady climb up, which consisted of commitments from long time targets Sharife Cooper, Chris Moore and Justin Powell, but also had the ups-and-downs associated with recruiting Kentucky commit BJ Boston– a former teammate of Cooper, Isaac Okoro and Babatunde Akingbola, UNC commit Walker Kessler–a friend of Powell, and Jaemyn Brakefield, who committed to Duke within 24 hours of receiving an offer.
Auburn now has its sights on players like Jalen Green, Jonathan Kuminga, Greg Brown III, Cliff Omoruyi and JT Thor, based on coaching visits, who Auburn has hosted and who Auburn has offered. A few other high ranking prospects have been linked to Auburn in some way, but not as seriously as the others.
Today we’ll discuss Auburn’s involvement with Jalen Green, with posts on other recruits scheduled for the near future.
Jalen Green – #3 247/Rivals, #1 ESPN, Pacific Prep, California
Green wasn’t known to be an Auburn target until late August of 2019 when he announced he’d be officially visiting Auburn during the weekend of the Mississippi State football game. Green’s visit wound up coinciding with Cooper’s commitment.
Green’s visit was largely due to Cooper, after the two became friends during EYBL circuits, SLAM events and similar events. Green is expected to make his decision sometime after his high school season ends, but no official dates have been set.
A timeline of Auburn’s recruitment of Green:
Cooper says he wants to play with Green:
“I would love to play with a lot of different guys like Jaemyn Brakefield, Jalen Green, Terrence Clarke, Greg Brown, Walker Kessler, Isaiah Jackson… A lot of guys.” https://t.co/QRpbP4dNti
— Jay Phillips (@aubawn) August 13, 2019
Green announces he’ll be visiting Auburn:
https://twitter.com/JalenRomande/status/1168316233151729664?s=20
Auburn coaches make their first trip to visit Green:
Bruce Pearl, Steven Pearl and Ira Bowman are all visiting with ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Jalen Green and his family today.
— Jay Phillips (@aubawn) September 16, 2019
Green is a top-5 player in 2020. https://t.co/n247191nJs
Green visits Auburn:
Jalen Green, the #3 player in the country, on his Auburn visit: pic.twitter.com/ckvCtq7tNm
— Jay Phillips (@aubawn) October 1, 2019
Green shows more interest in Auburn:
Jalen Green seems to be a fan of this Auburn “dream class” edit.
— Jay Phillips (@aubawn) October 10, 2019
The lineup features Green, Sharife Cooper, Greg Brown and Cliff Omoruyi. pic.twitter.com/TPQfaAGJpC
Auburn receives its first expert prediction for Green:
Auburn received a “future cast” for Jalen Green earlier today, from a Kentucky writer/member of the “Sources Say” podcast. pic.twitter.com/GV72pw4vbl
— Jay Phillips (@aubawn) November 9, 2019
Green poses with Cooper and Josh Christopher for the SLAM cover:
Jalen Green, Sharife Cooper and Josh Cristopher on the cover of Slam: pic.twitter.com/1iHr2LrDui
— Jay Phillips (@aubawn) November 25, 2019
Auburn picks up its first crystal ball for Green, followed by a bunch more:
Auburn now has one Crystal Ball for Jalen Green from 247 and one FutureCast for him from Rivals. pic.twitter.com/JtUQEFs71i
— Jay Phillips (@aubawn) January 23, 2020
Auburn students chant “We want Jalen”:
Auburn Arena chanting “WE WANT JALEN” on College GameDay.
— Jay Phillips (@aubawn) February 1, 2020
Auburn is considered a finalist for ESPN’s #1 overall player, Jalen Green. pic.twitter.com/hgoH2gOU5a
Jerry Meyer predicts Green to Auburn or overseas and everyone else follows, including Auburn Einstein:
https://twitter.com/aubawn/status/1229487556850585603?s=20
Possibly worth noting:
Green has also said he wants to study to be a veterinarian due to his love of animals, and Auburn has a great program for that.
5⭐️ guard Jalen Green, the one considering Auburn, wants to be a VETERINARIAN.
— Jay Phillips (@aubawn) November 20, 2019
“This isn’t some sort of backup or fallback plan. The goal of becoming a veterinarian is playing a role in the San Joaquin Memorial High School student’s recruiting process.” https://t.co/9q0vS6MwN3
Auburn’s student section even joined the “We want Jalen” party when Auburn hosted College Gameday.
Auburn Arena chanting “WE WANT JALEN” on College GameDay.
— Jay Phillips (@aubawn) February 1, 2020
Auburn is considered a finalist for ESPN’s #1 overall player, Jalen Green. pic.twitter.com/hgoH2gOU5a
(Another note: Green is friends with Josh Christopher, another top 10 player, who announced his final list without including Auburn. Questions surfaced about Green, Christopher and Cooper wanting to play together after the three posed for the cover of SLAM High School magazine together and Christopher dropped a few (likely joking) hints.
* 🤷♂️ pic.twitter.com/VXLuUEP8z1
— Jay Phillips (@aubawn) January 28, 2020
However, Cooper has taken it seriously.
New @CooperSharife Blog: Excited to be a @McDAAG, @AuburnMBB, recruiting @JalenRomande, @Jaygup23 and other elite players, @CWAllAmerican and MORE.
— Jason Jordan (@JasonNCJordan) January 28, 2020
BLOG⬇️https://t.co/2Jun8qXoLP
But it’s worth keeping in mind that Auburn was NOT listed as a finalist by Christopher. If Auburn somehow has a chance, they’ll probably need Green committed first, which won’t be easy to get.)
Lead recruiter, Sharife Cooper, chimes in on rumors about Auburn recruiting five star, top-10 player Joshua Christopher: pic.twitter.com/VN6maDDMk5
— Jay Phillips (@aubawn) February 14, 2020
Green has been visited by Auburn coaches multiple times, which means that Auburn coaches have flown to California multiple times since the end of August, something that isn’t necessarily easy to do in the midst of preseason practice and the season itself. To me, that shows how serious Auburn coaches are about Green.
Green’s claim to the top rank in the 2020 class and 2021 draft could make Auburn a good landing spot. Bruce Pearl’s tendency to let freshmen play through mistakes and give his players greenlights could give Green a chance to play himself into the number one pick.
73 percent of Green’s crystal ball predictions are now with Auburn.
Green has been reported to have a great relationship with Memphis coach Penny Hardaway and assistant Mike Miller, but this college season has seen Green shift some interest from Memphis to Auburn, in the eyes of the national and regional experts who made those crystal ball predictions.
In addition to the crystal ball prediction from Jerry Meyer, Auburn has also received crystal ball predictions for Green from Andrew Slater, Kentucky insider Chris Fisher, Auburn insiders Keith Niebuhr and Brandon Marcello and others.
However, multiple predictions have come with the warning that Green still could be considering the overseas option and all predictions can be easily changed again if the experts believe Green has changed his mind.