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The Jarrett Allen Sweepstakes is over.
The 6-foot-10, 225-pound big man from St. Stephen’s Episcopal School, signed with Texas and will be a freshman in 2016-17. He also considered Houston and Kansas.
The addition of Allen gives the Longhorns a four-man freshman class. Allen will join incoming center James Banks and guards Andrew Jones and Jacob Young.
“We couldn’t be more excited about Jarrett joining our basketball family,” head coach Shaka Smart said. “Jarrett’s tremendous character as a person and special talent as a player represent the exact combination we strive to attract in our program. Jarrett will make an immediate imprint on our team and significantly impact our style of play on both ends of the floor.”
Allen was tabbed the No. 15 overall prospect in the nation by ESPN, No. 15 by Rivals.com and No. 15 by Scout.com. He is the top-ranked center in the country by ESPN, marking the first time in UT program history that the Longhorns have signed the No. 1 center in ESPN’s recruiting rankings.
Allen averaged 19.7 points and 13.3 rebounds as a senior while leading St. Stephen’s to a 25-5 record and the Southwest Preparatory Conference title. He scored 33 points in the 66-57 victory against Bellaire Episcopal in the SPC championship game. Allen also led the Spartans to a 27-6 mark and the SPC title during his junior season, marking the school’s first SPC championship since 2010-11.
Allen recently competed in the prestigious McDonald’s All-American Game and for Team USA in the Nike Hoop Summit. He is the 18th player in UT history to participate in the McDonald’s All-American Game.
Allen told SNY.tv in April he had recently met with Smart.
“We sat down for about an hour or two just talking about how the program would help me and how I would fit into the program,” Allen said. “It was good to sit down.”
He added: “It’s a good school…Coach Smart with Prince Ibeh, he really helped his confidence, so it’s a good school.”
