Priority Prospect: Jalen Benjamin (2019) PC:N&O
Jalen Benjamin-5’10 PG Leesville Road /Stackhouse Elite-This young man has a chance to be absolutely special, don’t be surprised to see a huge jump in his ranking in the upcoming weeks. He is a fantastic ball-handler and an absolute nightmare for defenders to try and contain, also a knock down shooter from deep. He understands the game and has a high basketball IQ. He. is currently ranked #10 in the PrepHoopsNC 2019 rankings.
He knows when to attack the defense and when to pass it. He has strong court vision and sees passes that most players his age don’t see yet. He is good at beating players off the dribble to hit the mid-range pull-up jumper. He is sneaky quick in transition and can finish with either hand. He has the ability to score over bigger players with ease. His deep shooting is getting better and can consistently knock down shots from the beyond the three-point line. He is very athletic and has the basketball gene in his blood. He has the text book form on his jump shot that coaches love.
His father Ishua Benjamin is an assistant coach for Leesville Road High School and played at NC State and was the North Carolina Mr. Basketball in 1993 playing at Concord High School outside of Charlotte, North Carolina. He scored 1,263 career points during his time at NC State before a long career playing overseas.
A quick and shifty point guard, Benjamin helped lead Leesville Road High School in Raleigh to a 22-10 record last season and advanced to the state championship game against Southwest Guilford High School in the 4-A division.
Jalen offers from Illinois State, Tulane, UAB, Canisius, Detroit, Northern Arizona, High Point, Richmond to date. He has been hearing from Maryland, Davidson, and High Point recently.
This summer and spring he played with Stackhouse Elite along with other highly touted guards from North Carolina including Kinston’s Damian Dunn.