The Vols continue to get good news on the recruiting trail in basketball. Earlier this week, they were listed as finalists for a five-star point guard in the 2019 class. Now they’ve made the cut for yet another five-star guard in this current cycle.
Jalen Lecque, one of the top players in the 2019 recruiting class, posted his top seven teams on his Twitter account this week. And the Vols made the cut of his top teams, joining UCLA, Louisville, NC State, TCU, and Texas Tech.
I would like to thank all the schools that have recruited me through my basketball career. It was a hard decision on narrowing down my list in colleges to choose from, but these are the schools I have chosen for my top 7❗️❗️ @TiptonEdits pic.twitter.com/uW0QKoJ5Rj
— Jalen Lecque (@jalenlecque10) August 16, 2018
According to the 247Sports Composite rankings, Lecque is the No. 13 overall player and No. 3 combo guard in the 2019 class. He plays for Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire and has offers from over three dozen schools. Including the teams in his top seven, he also has offers from Villanova, Kentucky, Kansas, Syracuse, Indiana, Texas, UConn, Xavier, Auburn, and many others.
The Vols have made Lecque a priority in this class, visiting him several times over the summer. He himself took an unofficial visit to Tennessee back in January of this year as well.
At 6-foot-4, 189 pounds, Lecque has the frame and long arms that should make him fit in perfectly as a two-guard in most collegiate systems. But he has skills of a point guard too, and he’s worked more on his point guard skills this summer and is trying to transition into more of a point guard heading into this senior season of high school. If he has success there as a point guard, expect the Vols to ramp up their pursuit of him even more.
Lecque’s highlight film from his junior season and during the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League this summer show off his freak athleticism. He’s an extremely talented player who skies for dunks, drives in the lane consistently, and has a smooth stroke on his jumpers. He can play some defense too, using his long arms and exceptional jumping skills to be a pain to other guards. Lecque has a pretty good mid-range game and can shoot from inside the three-point arc fairly well. He knows how to play in the paint, too. His biggest weakness is his three-point shooting, but he’s been working on improving that through just sheer volume of shooting. His passing skills also need some improvement, but he’s learning how to be more effective there too.
According to D1Circuit.com, Lecque averaged 14.2 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game in 16 games of Nike’s Elite Youth Basketball League this year. In the Peach Jam series later this past summer, he averaged 15 points, 5.4 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and 1.2 steals in five games. He only made four of his 38 three-pointers in the EYBL, good for just a 10.5 shooting percentage from behind the arc. He improved that in the Peach Jam, making five of his 19 threes in those five games (26.3 percent). But it’s clear that’s the top area of his game he needs to focus on. His assist-to-turnover ratio also improved quite a bit in the Peach Jam, going from 3.8 assists to 2.8 turnovers per game in the EYBL to 3.4 assists compared to 1.8 turnovers a game in the Peach Jam.
Per PrepCircuit.com, Lecque averaged 20.5 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 7.5 assists in 13 recorded games during his junior season this past year.
The Vols are in a good spot with both Lecque and fellow five-star guard Josiah James. Tennessee is also still in the mix for four-star guard Tre Mann, though his recruitment is wide open once again.
Vol fans have wanted Rick Barnes and his staff to get in on the “big boys” of college basketball, and right now they’re doing just that. They’re competing with the likes of North Carolina, Duke, Michigan State, and Louisville for some of their top targets in the 2019 cycle. Now Barnes and his staff have to do what they can to try and reel in one of these highly-rated players.
