Inside The Huskies

Huskies Reportedly In Pursuit of 5-Star Forward in Independent League

Jeremy Jenkins plays for the City Reapers in the Overtime Elite conference in Atlanta.
Dan Raley|
Jeremy Jenkins, right, is shown on a Georgia visit.
Jeremy Jenkins, right, is shown on a Georgia visit. | Georgia

College basketball players come from all directions these days it seems. There's the G League player cleared to suit up for Alabama. There's the former NBA player pushing to get his college eligibility restored. Anything goes.

University of Washington coach Danny Sprinkle can only shake his head and make jokes about the current state of the NCAA game in terms of who's eligible and who's not.

"I'm seeing if B-Roy has any eligbility, [and] IT," he said, referencing Brandon Roy and Isaiah Thomas. "Jaden McDaniels and Isaiah Stewart, come on back. We've got something for you."

While the above are the extreme avenues, here's a new one to consider.

The Huskies reportedly are among the most ardent pursuers of 6-foot-9, 245-pound junior power forward Jeremy Jenkins, who currently plays for the City Reapers in something called the Overtime Elite, a nine-team amateur league in Atlanta, and is a Class of 2027 recruit.

The league supposedly offers scholarships to players 16-20 years old who are free to pursue name, image and likeness deals to generate some personal income. They're also given classroom resources to maintain their college eligibility,

It all sounds a bit risky in terms of players giving much consideration to grades and scholastic requirements moving ahead.

Jenkins recently told Kayser Hoops that he's recently had contact with Baylor, Florida State, Gonzaga, Indiana, Kentucky, LSU, Oklahoma and Washington, and will set up recruiting visits soon.

According to 247Sports, he holds 21 offers. His social-media account shows him already having visited Georgia.

Considered a 5-star player, Jenkins previously led Riviera Prep in Miami to back-to-back Florida state championships.over the previous two seasons.

As a sophomore, he averaged 13 points, 7.4 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game while shooting 57 percent from the floor. During his freshman season in 2023-24, Jenkins averaged 9.8 points and 6.3 rebounds per game while shooting 55 percent.

Two men launched the Overtime Elite basketball league in 2021 for American and international basketball players. Games are primarily played at OTE Arena in Atlanta, with games streamed on YouTube and social media.

Jenkins also drew attention to himself by receiving an invitation this past May to join the U16 Team USA after attending national team minicamp the month before in San Antonio, Texas.

So he's a fairly worldly and independent player no longer beholden to attending high school or playing in a highly structured basketball environment.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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