Men’s basketball adds elite center to 2016-17 recruiting class

By Steve Lansdale

AUSTIN, Texas — Texas men’s basketball head coach Shaka Smart made by far the biggest recruiting splash of his short tenure in Austin this week when center Jarrett Allen of Austin’s St. Stephen’s Episcopal School became the fourth member of the Longhorns’ 2016-17 freshman class.

“We couldn’t be more excited about Jarrett joining our basketball family,” Smart said. “Jarrett’s tremendous character as a person and special talent as a player represent the exact combination we strive to attract in our program. Jarrett will make an immediate imprint on our team and significantly impact our style of play on both ends of the floor.”

Widely considered the[s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level1)] top unsigned player left in this year’s senior class, the 6-foot-10, 225-pound Allen earned five stars from all four of the major recruiting evaluation networks: ESPN.com, 247sports.com, rivals.com and scout.com. ESPN ranked him as the top center in the country, the No. 4 player in the Midlands Region and the No. 3 player in Texas; 247sports.com sees him as the fifth-best power forward prospect in the country and the No. 4 player in Texas; scout.com ranks Allen third among the nation’s center prospects and the No. 2 center in the Midland Region and in Texas, while rivals.com calls him the No. 15 player in the country.

Allen recently became the 18^th Texas signee to play in the McDonald’s All-America game after averaging 19.7 points and 13.3 rebounds per game as a senior at St. Stephen’s, which he led to the Southwest Preparatory Conference (SPC) title.

Allen chose Texas over offers from several of the nation’s elite basketball schools, including Kentucky, Kansas, SMU, Indiana and North Carolina. He joins center James Banks, guard Andrew Jones and guard Jacob Young in the Longhorns’ recruiting class.

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