Jaylen Brown, the No. 1 player in the Class of 2015, enjoyed his weekend official visit to UCLA and has several more visits planned before likely committing in the spring.
“I liked the location, the coaches are nice, down to earth, [and] my mom liked it,” the 6-foot-6 Brown out of Marietta (GA) Wheeler said by phone from the airport after his UCLA visit. “The campus was beautiful. It’s like a resort.”
Head coach Steve Alford and assistant David Grace have made Brown a top priority in the Class of 2015.
“They said I’m the No. 1 priority and I would be like the man,” Brown said. “They don’t have a guy like me. They would play me at multiple positions, the 1, 2 and 3 and make it hard for the other team to guard me. They’re not looking to recruit a lot. They want two bigs for sure and they want me. If they don’t get me, they said they want a replacement, so that’s what they’re looking for.”
UCLA already has point guard Aaron Holiday and shooting guard Prince Ali committed for 2015.
As for Brown, he has now visited Kansas, Kentucky and UCLA and plans to take his remaining two official visits to Michigan and North Carolina and unofficials to Georgia and Georgia Tech.
“I haven’t gotten anything planned but I’m probably going to take an official to Michigan and to North Carolina,” Brown said. “Unofficially, to Georgia and Georgia Tech.”
Michigan is a new entrant to his list, but Brown’s mother, Michelle, grew up in Muskegon, MI, and coach John Beilein has begun recruiting him.
“The coach is cool,” he said. “They have a lot of freedom within their system. I’m from Michigan. That’s where my family is from, so Michigan is home. Not too far from where my mom was raised.”
Beilein got involved “about a month and a half ago,” Brown said, adding that he’s not sure when he might visit.
North Carolina was also recently added to his list.
“I grew up a UNC fan,” Brown said. “North Carolina was always the school that I liked the most. Talking to Coach Roy Williams is cool and anything he has to say I key in on. They started recruiting me about two or three months ago, so they’re a great school and I’m looking forward to getting down there.”
Georgia and Georgia Tech are the local schools and Brown has been to both multiple times before. He plans to take unofficials there again.
Prior to UCLA, Brown visited Kentucky for “Big Blue Madness” on Oct. 17, one week after 90 NBA scouts watched the Kentucky combine.
“It was really great,” Brown said. “Everything they do is in preparation for the NBA, so they do a lot of stuff to make sure you’re prepared and I think that’s beneficial.”
The week prior, Brown visited Kansas for “Late Night in the Phog.
“Yep, my mom said it reminded her of Michigan,” Brown said. “It was like a smaller town and everyone is like family there. It was like a family environment.”
Brown said he has talked to Carlton Bragg and Brandon Ingram about a potential package.
“We talked about it but we don’t have anything [definite],” he said.
Brown is still targeting a spring decision.
“Most likely,” he said.
