Class Of 2020 Top 50 Forward Jaemyn Brakefield Claims Offer From Virginia

By: Chris Horne |

University of Virginia men’s basketball coach Tony Bennett extended another scholarship offer in the class of 2020 on Tuesday (September 24). Huntington Prep (Huntington, W.V.) forward Jaemyn Brakefield, who ESPN.com ranks as a 5-star recruit, is the recipient. Brakefield revealed the news via Twitter on the same day in which Bennett was visited him at Huntington.

UVA already boasts a highly regarded class of 2020 – 247Sports ranks the Hoos’ haul no. 3 overall, while Rivals ranks the class no. 4. Wing Jabri Abdur-Rahim and point guard Reece Beekman are consensus 4-star recruits and rated among the top 75 high school seniors nationally. Shooting guard Carson McCorkle is rated a 4-star by Rivals and 247Sports.

Brakefield, who is listed at 6’9” and 210 pounds, is rated by ESPN as the no. 23 overall prospect in the class of 2020. In addition to ESPN’s rankings, the Milwaukee (WI) native is rated highly by Rivals (4-star, no. 36 overall, no. 6 power forward) and 247Sports (4-star, no. 52 overall, no. 8 power forward). A power forward but possessing good all-around ability inside and out, averaged 15.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.8 assists in 17 games on the Nike EYBL circuit with Phenom University (WI) this past spring and summer.

The question for Virginia moving forward is … is it too late? In August Brakefield announced a top 10 of Auburn, Florida State, Kansas, Louisville, Michigan, Michigan State, Mississippi, Oregon, UCLA and West Virginia. He made an official visit to Auburn earlier this month and reportedly is scheduled to take official visits to Louisville (this weekend), Michigan (October 4), and Ole Miss (October 18). The Mississippi official is significant because the standout prospect already made one official to Oxford in September of 2018.

Possibly working in Virginia’s favor is that, in his “Rise Above” blog featured on USA Today, Brakefield expressed that he was open to some other schools outside of his top 10.

“When I cut my list, I had schools that reached out asking me about still recruiting me, but most of those schools hadn’t offered like Memphis, North Carolina and Duke,” Brakefield wrote in his most recent blog entry on August 29. “It was basically a situation where they aren’t sure they need to recruit at my position, but if that changes then I would be open to them too. I still keep in touch with them.”

Additionally, Brakefield was AAU teammates this year with Beekman, who is already on the case for the Hoos.

When Abdur-Rahim committed this past July (McCorkle and Beekman committed earlier in the process), Virginia’s 2020-21 scholarship count was full. However, forward Francesco Badocchi departed the program one month later, opening up a spot. The current projected roster for Virginia in 2020-21 looks like this:

Point Guards: Kihei Clark (Jr), Reece Beekman (Fr)

Wings: Tomas Woldetensae (Sr), Kody Stattmann (Jr), Casey Morsell (Soph), Carson McCorkle (Fr), Jabri Abdur-Rahim (Fr)

Combo Forwards Sam Hauser (R-Sr), Justin McKoy (Soph)

Posts: Jay Huff (R-Sr), Francisco Caffaro (R-Soph), Kadin Shedrick (Soph)