Kris Jenkins Hopes to be Pied Piper at Villanova

Kris Jenkins is headed to Villanova and he’s hoping to bring other talented players with him.

“Right now, my concentration is to try to get Josh Hart to commit and go to Villanova as well,” the 6-foot-6, 250-pound Jenkins told SNY.tv Sunday afternoon. “Young guys like Ja’Quan Newton and whoever else Villanova is recruiting from this area as well.”

Hart is a 6-5 2013 small forward from Sidwell Friends (Md.) and Newton is 6-3 point guard from Neumann-Goretti.

Jenkins said he’s not especially tight with the Harrison Twins, but wouldn’t mind playing with them, either.

Andrew and Aaron Harrison are expected to take official visits to Maryland and SMU, and possibly Villanova as well. They are also considering Kentucky and Baylor, but have said they may not take officials there because they are already familiar with those programs.

“We’re cool,” Jenkins said. “I don’t have a problem with them.”

The Gonzaga forward said he chose Villanova over Miami, Clemson, Xavier and Rutgers because of his relationship with head coach Jay Wright and the staff.

“Coach Wright and his coaching staff, they just gave me a vision, a plan for me that was something I just couldn’t turn down,” Jenkins said.

“Just the opportunity to come in and get better, to receive a great education and the possibility of chasing my childhood dream of winning a national championship and putting msyelf in a good position of making it to the NBA.”

Jenkins last year was named the Gatorade District of Columbia Boys Basketball Player of the Year after averaging 19.8 points, 10.6 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 3.9 steals and 1.2 blocks and leading the Eagles (27-7) to the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference championship game and a fourth-place finish at the national Alhambra Catholic Invitational Tournament.

Jenkins, who said he can play the three or the four, is recovering from left pinkie surgery that kept him off the summer AAU circuit and expects to be back in a few weeks.

“My recovery is going good,” he said. “I’m doing rehab and looking forward to tryting to play basketball again around the middle of September.”

Gonzaga coach Steve Turner said of Jenkins: “He has the ability to play a couple of positions with his skill set and basketball IQ. His ability to shoot the ball  will be a huge asset along with his ability to play with his back to the basket. He is what I call a point forward because he has a great knack for finding guys and making the right pass.

“He is a guy that you can play through.”