Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, a 6-foot-9 senior forward formerly of Bishop Miege and now at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., has chosen Villanova over Kansas in recruiting, his AAU coach, L.J. Goolsby, confirmed to The Star on Tuesday.
Robinson-Earl, the son of former KU player Lester Earl, visited five schools officially — Villanova, KU, North Carolina, Notre Dame and Arizona.
He told Rivals.com’s Eric Bossi the choice indeed was Nova.
“It’s a small community so everybody is real tight with each other and when I went on my visit I enjoyed how tight everybody is and how much they support the team,” Robinson-Earl said. “Philadelphia is kind of a pro town but everybody there is down for Villanova and I thought that was cool.
“I respected them a lot to even offer me as a kid from the Kansas area because a lot of schools held back because of where I’m from.”
The country’s No. 10-rated player in the recruiting Class of 2019 was a starter on KU coach Bill Self’s gold medal-winning USA Basketball squad that went undefeated at the FIBA Americas Under-18 Championship in Canada. Robinson-Earl averaged 10.7 points and 8.5 rebounds in just 18 minutes per game while making 61.9 percent of his shots.
He is a graduate of the KC Run GMC AAU program, where he averaged 19.5 points and 11.4 rebounds a game last season.
Robinson-Earl’s mom, Katie Robinson, announced the decision on her Facebook page: “Sometimes you meet people who have an immediate impact on you. Ones that you know you were supposed to meet … who by the grace of God, allowed your paths to cross. That is Jeremiah, Coach (Jay) Wright and his entire (Villanova) staff. Throughout Jeremiah’s entire life, he has thrived under adversity. He prays about each life decision and asks for wisdom and guidance along the way. Life isn’t about doing what’s popular, it is about doing what is right for you and your story. That is what Jeremiah has done and I am very, very proud of him. I am forever grateful to each and every program that we have had a chance to get to know and wish them all continued success now and in the future … that being said, Jeremiah has committed to Villanova!!”
ESPN.com’s scouting report on Robinson-Earl, written after the AAU season, says: “His floor game is mature beyond his age. He has a veteran like presence on the floor, is very efficient, and has a dramatic impact on winning.
“He’s active with great hands and so while he impacts the game in a number of ways his ability to rebound the ball may be his best asset at this point. He can then put it on the floor to start the break himself and is similarly able to face-up and attack some in the half-court. He’s a solid athlete and better shot-blocker than he gets credit for. He’s also a very smart player who has good footwork, is a solid passer, and has a lot of budding mismatch type tools offensively.
“He’s not going to blow you away with ‘wow plays’ like some other top national prospects and may not be the type of guy that a coach just lets go to work in isolations in a high level game. He’s a good athlete, but not quite truly elite, and doesn’t yet have that one overwhelming weapon that he can hang his hat on in a half-court setting. There are times when he doesn’t always dominate the game like a player of his early recruitment presumably should as well.
“What he may lack in style he makes up for in substance. This guy wins games and does it at an early age because he already has an appreciation for how to impact the game in a variety of ways. He’s a high volume rebounder and smart player with good hands, footwork, and activity level who projects as a potential star at the college level.”
Gary Bedore covers University of Kansas athletics for The Star.
This story was originally published October 30, 2018 at 7:22 PM.
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