Written by Jeff Mlinar
Upstate New York
has talent.
Dozens of high school boys between Rochester and Albany
are receiving legitimate interest from Division I basketball programs. A couple
– Joe Cremo and Jordan Roland – have even committed heading into their senior
campaigns. One other rising senior is looking to join that category, and with
the summer he’s been having, it wouldn’t be surprising if that happened soon.
Jahlil Nails isn’t
your average kid. I mean, he is normal. At 6’5”, maybe he’s a little taller
than average. Get him on the court and get to know him, and you’ll understand
why. In a sectional semifinal game this year, he sprained his MCL. They didn’t
win, but he kept playing… and playing. And playing. 5 overtimes worth of
playing. He wasn’t just out there struggling, either. Nails finished with 41
points on the night. Your average kid doesn’t put up 41 points on a sprained
MCL. He goes to Columbia High School, east of Albany, and participates in the
King of Kings College Prospect League in Utica. While many players have missed
multiple weeks, he’s been dependable. As a matter of fact, he was one of only
thirteen in the league that attended all of the first five weeks. He drives
himself every week, sometimes picking up teammates in the process. The average
kid isn’t doing that.
He’s certainly making a name for himself too. Through
those 5 weeks, he’s separated himself from nearly everyone in the league.
Averaging 20.8 points per game in that stretch, he’s leading the league in
scoring by over 3 points per game. He also rebounds well – with 8.2 per game,
he’s currently in 6th. Not to mention what he does from beyond the
arc. The 6’5” shooting guard shoots over defenders at will, and he’s hit 19 of
his 41 attempts from the land of the extra point so far. The amount of makes
leads the league, and it makes it even more impressive when he’s shooting it at
nearly a 50% clip. A 31 point outburst with limited players put them over the
top last week against a tough Takeover team. A 21 point 2nd half
single-handedly kept his team in the game in a close loss to 315 Elite. The
only off game he had was in a game where they didn’t need him to have a good
game anyway – they won by 30. Nails is a bona fide Division 1 prospect: with
Tennessee Tech & USC Upstate showing budding interest along with Monmouth,
Lehigh, Liberty, Houston Baptist, Idaho State, TCU, Radford, NJIT, and a half
dozen others interested for a longer period of time, the laundry list of D1 schools
looking into him is one of the longest in the league. Even with all this
attention from programs, Nails plays with a hammer of a chip on his shoulder –
this being even more clearly evident in King of Kings, going up against a lot
of the other best talent in upstate NY. When asked about why King of Kings this
summer, a multitude of reasons popped up.
“The big names made a difference”, Nails said when it
came to initially making the decision to commit to the league. “You see guys
like Mark (Lyons), Brandon (Triche) as people who have played in this, and you
want to be a part of that”. Those two, along with plenty of other notable
names, such as Demetris Nichols, Edwin Ubiles, and Jimmer Fredette, have all
played in the King of Kings men’s league – all but Fredette have played this
season as well. Nails also pointed at the wide recruiting base for this
summer’s league: “Coming out to the Capital district to get players for a
league in Utica showed it could be a big deal. And when guys that were on the
team were mentioned, like as (Zach) Radz and Raiquis (Harris), you could see it
was a talented team.” And what kept him here after the first week, a 68-38 win
over a Team 518 squad that featured Green Tech rising senior Isiah Dobere?
Multiple things.
“The environment, definitely”, Nails pointed at. “The
crowd opening night, people came out. The DJ playing music in games. It’s a
different experience.” He also mentioned the in-game experience – “The refs let
you play tough. It’s a little more physical and you have to work harder. It’s
more college physicality, which helps get you ready for it. The competition is
just strong all-around, too. Everyone’s athletic, everyone can play. Everyone
who plays in it is a big name at their school or in their area, so people don’t
care what your name is here. It’s all about skill – gotta bring your game.”
And bring his game is what he’s done. People have taken
notice – especially after the early-season 2nd half outburst against
315 Elite. People pay attention to him when he has the ball in his hands. Other
teams focus on stopping him. It hasn’t worked. He continues to play with that
chip on his shoulder, even late in the season, no matter who he’s playing. The
fact that he doesn’t have a scholarship offer yet, even with all this
scholarship-level attention, is certainly a big driving force for him.
“Everywhere I play, everywhere I go, I’m trying to make a
name for myself”, Nails said. “I feel like I’ve been overlooked a lot by
programs. I know schools are interested, but a lot of kids I have played well
against (AAU, BCANY, etc.) have offers. I want that.”
With the King of Kings regular season in the books, and
him only missing the last week due to obligations with his BCANY team, he is
certainly garnering serious consideration for the regular season MVP award.
Underrecruited? I’d definitely say he has been. He may not have an offer yet,
but if his play continues at this pace, that
won’t be for long.
Jahlil’s team, Rising Stars, has a bye into the playoff
semifinals as the #2 seed. They will play the winner of #6 seed Dynasty
(featuring Amsterdam’s Kory Bergh and Skaneateles’ Bobby Leslie) and #3 Utica
Select (with a host of top talent, including Ziggy Tracey, Jordan Gutierrez,
Troy Temara, and God’s Power Ogide) on Saturday, August 9, at Mohawk Valley
Community College in Utica. Game time is to be determined. Full Rising Stars
roster below.
Brandon LaForest (Cohoes)
Zach Radz (Troy)
Raiquis Harris (CCHS)
Myles Joyce (Averill Park)
Isaiah Moak (Averill Park)
Ryan Bielawa (La Salle)
Justin Carruthers (Greenwich)
Andrew Hoag (Hoosick Falls)
Jahlil Nails (Columbia)
Brandon Fischer (Shenendehowa)
Ray Jerome (Albany Academy/Cheshire Academy)
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