Recruiting Report: Jelani Williams (2017)
When we last talked with Sidwell Friends’ Jelani Williams he had three offers, that list has now expanded to six.
Penn, Delaware, Old Dominion, Hofstra, Colgate, and James Madison have all offered the cerebral 6-foot-5 point guard, and many more — including some high-majors — are now inquiring.
“Other schools that are really involved are George Washington, Georgetown, Maryland, I recently started talking to Pittsburgh, still Temple and VCU, and then Ivy League schools like Princeton,” said Williams, who went into detail about the Ivy League interest.
“Both my parents are educators, so in my mind you can’t get better than an Ivy League education with high-level basketball – which I think both Princeton and Penn offer. That’s something that’s very important to my family and something that I’m very interested in.”
Williams says that unlike most guys playing on 17U circuit, his priorities lie not with gaining exposure and attention from college coaches, but simply getting better.
“It’s (recruitment) more important now, but it’s not really a number one priority. Honestly, I’m not looking to really go out there and impress a lot of people, it’s important to me that my game develops and makes that next jump,” said Williams. “And I’m looking more for a place that is interested in developing me, and where I need to be.”
After spending his junior season crafting his skill-set with the Quakers, Williams says his leadership was the most improved part of his game.
“I think the biggest (improvement) is I was very successful at improving as a floor general, and I took more of a leadership role and really leading our guys. I made a big jump in that over my sophomore year, and that was a big thing in me becoming a better point guard.”
Though he broke his wrist in an early workout recently with Team Takeover, Williams says he’ll return in May.
“When I come back I’ll be looking to keep improving my leadership from the guard spot. And I want to be a guy that can move all over the court, because we don’t have set positions. We have a lot of talented guys and athletic guys that can move around and play all over the court,” said Williams.
“I’m still working on my body and my jump-shooting ability. I am a much-improved shooter and defender, and my body is improved. But I’m still focused on improving all those areas.”