October 26, 2017

Maryland basketball lands 4-star, Baltimore-area forward Jalen Smith

Photo courtesy of Jalen Smith.

Maryland basketball added a blue chip to its 2018 class on Monday evening when Baltimore-area prospect Jalen Smith announced his commitment to the Terps on Twitter. The 6-foot-10, 195-pound forward is rated as a four-star recruit by many recruiting pages and has flourished at Mount St. Joseph, recently winning the Gatorade Player of the Year for the state of Maryland. 

“I believe that I can academically and athletically achieve my goals at home through my commitment to the UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND…..GO TERPS!!!!!,” Smith’s post said.

Along with his national award, Smith won the Baltimore Sun Player of the Year and is rated as the 37th-best player in the country by ESPN. According to 247sports.com’s composite ratings, Smith is the second-highest rated recruit to commit to the Terps in the past 15 years behind only Diamond Stone in 2015.

As a junior, Smith averaged 17 points, nine rebounds and three blocks per game to lead the Gaels to a 35-3 record.

Syracuse, Villanova, Virginia and Miami were among other programs targeting Smith, 247sports reports. 

When the time comes, Smith should slide right in and make an immediate impact with his menacing length, offensive gifts on the wing and rim-protecting defensive tenacity. 

Smith joins North Carolina guard prospect Aaron Wiggins, rated as the 65th-best player in the country by ESPN, in Maryland’s 2018 class.

The Washington Post’s Roman Stubbs reports that Maryland is also “in heavy pursuit” of some of the country’s best, including Baltimore-area prospect Immanuel Quickley, who named the Terps one of his four finalists earlier in June, as well as five-star center Moses Brown, four-star forward Silvio De Sousa, five-star guard Keldon Johnson and four-star guard Devon Dotson.

About Kyle McFadden 339 Articles
Kyle McFadden is a graduate from Linganore High School's Class of 2014, a sports junkie and general news-hound. He got his start as a sports writer in January 2014 for Linganore's student-run newspaper The Lance, where he wrote 13 articles. McFadden then launched his own blog in October 2014 called The Beltway Dispatch covering collegiate, local high school and professional sports. Formally known as The Beltway Dispatch, McFadden and Evan Engelhard merged respective platforms in June 2015 to make what is now Maryland Sports Access. With baseball, basketball and golf experience, McFadden brings ample knowledge to the helm of MSA. McFadden covers a wide variety of sports in football, baseball, basketball, golf, hockey, lacrosse, soccer and specializes in the collegiate and high school levels. McFadden volunteers his time at Damascus Road Community Church -- serving as a mentor to the youth, basketball coach at the varsity and junior varsity levels, and leads a small group of high school sophomores every Wednesday night. Although he's only been around journalism since January 2014, he's a high school sports reporter for The Baltimore Sun and freelancer for The Frederick News-Post. McFadden's work has also appeared in DMV newspapers The Aegis, The Capital Gazette, The Daily Times (Delmarva Now), The Hometown Observer, Howard County Times, Germantown Pulse and The Towson Times. He's also won two Mike Powell Excellence in Journalism awards and has appeared on The Best of SNO, which showcases top student work of high school and college journalists. McFadden currently studies at Frederick Community College and plans to transfer to the University of Maryland in the fall of 2018 to work on a bachelor's degree in journalism with aspirations to be a national college basketball writer.
Contact: Twitter

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