Vanderbilt’s men’s basketball team had no seniors on the team last season and only lost one player: George Drake, who transferred to Alabama-Birmingham.
Because of this, the team only had one scholarship to offer to the high school Class of 2009, and they made good use of that sole scholarship, landing shooting guard John Jenkins, the school’s first ever five-star recruit, who is regarded as one of the best shooters in the entire nation, freshman or otherwise.
Jenkins starred at nearby Station Camp High School where he led all high school players in the nation in scoring, averaging 42.3 points per game on 62 percent shooting.
He was a five-star recruit (the highest rating given to any player) on Rivals.com, was rated the top shooter in the Class of 2009 and was Rivals’ 15th-highest-ranked recruit overall in his class. Also, The Tennessean named him the boys’ basketball player of the year in both 2008 and 2009.
To say he is an impressive recruit would be obvious. He is Vanderbilt’s most highly touted recruit ever.
Jenkins said he was aware he would be the first five-star player to ever commit to the Commodore program, and said he thinks his decision has the potential to impact others.
“I knew coming in that I would be the first five-star recruit here,” Jenkins said. “I definitely think that with me being highly ranked, I can help maybe put Vanderbilt on the map for other guys who may not have considered it before, so I think from that aspect my status as a highly touted recruit can definitely help the program in the near future.”
Usually most top recruits are deciding between traditional powerhouses like Duke, North Carolina and Kansas when it comes to where to play their college ball, but Vanderbilt is slowly becoming a big player in the recruiting ranks.
Jenkins knocked down three 3-pointers in his first collegiate action, a 91-56 win over Alabama-Huntsville on Nov. 10.
“I thought he played very well,” said sophomore guard Brad Tinsley. “He hit some shots, made some good plays, played well on defense. He’s a big part of our team, and as long as he stays within himself and continues to keep working hard, he’ll be a great add to our team.”
The Jenkins signing comes off the heels of a 2008 signing class that included four four-star players (Lance Goulbourne, Brad Tinsley, Steve Tchiengang and Jeff Taylor), and the recruit list is just as strong this year as in the past two as Vanderbilt has received commitments from its three top recruiting targets in center Josh Henderson, point guard Kyle Fuller and small forward Rod Odom.
“I think good recruiting begets good recruiting,” said Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings. “I think guys want to play with good players, and so they see a guy like John or they see Brad or Jeff or those guys and they want to come play with guys that are good.”
While Jenkins’ signing here certainly can help put the university more squarely on the basketball map for high school recruits, the most important thing to continuing to land these high-quality recruits was said best by Jenkins himself.
“The key to landing recruits is winning, plain and simple,” he said. “If we can win games and win them in a way that is attractive to the recruit and prove to recruits that we can compete on the court with the traditional powerhouses, they will come.”
