Recruiting Report: Jahari Long (2020)
One of the first calls made by the Minnesota staff to 2020 talent last Friday was to 6-foot-3 Houston Area guard Jahari Long who earned a scholarship from Minnesota Head Coach Richard Pitino. Prep Hoops caught up with Long today.
Long’s sophomore year at Episcopal High in Bellaire, Texas was a fantastic experience. Playing on a 30-4 team Long gave that group nearly 11 points a game with four rebounds and four assists a contest shooting 52 percent from the floor.
New Minnesota assistant coach Kyle Lindsted has been tracking Long and his AAU team Cooz Elite even before he arrived at Minnesota. Naturally last Friday one of Lindsted’s initial calls was to Lindsted followed by the talk with Pitino that included a scholarship offer.
“Like any offer I was very excited but I was happy with this being my first Big Ten offer,” Long told Prep Hoops. “The Minnesota offer made me feel like I was good enough to play at a high level. (Pitino and Lindsted) are great coaches who want to build relationships with their recruits.”
The Golden Gophers were the first high major program to offer Long but Jahri is hearing from several different high major programs plus has offers from VCU, Minnesota, and Rice among others.
“Since June 15 I have been contacted by Minnesota, Rice, Wichita State, Oklahoma, Louisiana Tech, Louisiana, Lafayette, College of Charleston, Texas-San Antonio, VCU, and Baylor,” Long said.
This weekend Cooz Elite will be at Minnesota Team Camp competing against some of the best players in the state of Minnesota. Unfortunately Jahri will not be in attendance as the team coming is not the team he plays with, for the most part.
“I’m not going this weekend. Only one player from our team will be in Minnesota this weekend.”
Don’t be too disappointed Gopher fans, we were told be a Long family member that Jahari should be able to get to Minnesota later in the summer.
“Jahari had a previous engagement scheduled. However, I will be bringing Jahari there for his unofficial visit after July. We are extremely grateful, and I have every intention of making sure he visits and takes a tour (of Minnesota).”