Catching Up With Virginia Basketball Recruit Jabri Abdur-Rahim

Consensus 4-star prospects Jabri Abdur-Rahim, Reece Beekman, and Carson McCorkle form the University of Virginia’s second-most highly rated recruited class of the Tony Bennett era, behind only the Cavaliers’ class of 2016 that included Ty Jerome, Kyle Guy, De’Andre Hunter and Jay Huff. As of this week, UVA’s 3-player class of 2020 is rated no. 13 in the nation by 247Sports and no. 14 in the nation by Rivals.com.

Jabri Abdur-Rahim signs an official letter of intent with the University of Virginia. ~ Photo courtesy of Abdur-Rahim

Jerome, Guy, and Hunter led the program to its first ever national championship. Naturally, with another potential “Big 3” on the horizon, high expectations are sure to follow. That doesn’t bother Abdur-Rahim, a 6’7.5” wing out of Blair Academy (Blairstown, N.J.) and Virginia’s most highly rated recruit in the class of 2020.

“I usually don’t worry about expectations,” said Abdur-Rahim, whose is used to dealing with expectations as his father, Shareef, played in the NBA from 1996-2008 after being drafted third overall in the 1996 NBA Draft. “At the end of the day I play basketball because I love it. I love to compete and win.”

ESPN ranks Abdur-Rahim as the no. 33 overall prospect in the class of 2020. Rivals (40) and 247Sports (51) include him among the nation’s top senior prospects as well. He emerged as a top target of Virginia head coach Tony Bennett in the spring of 2019. Virginia offered a scholarship on May 16.

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