Stetson transfer Jalen Blackmon, son of former Kentucky player, has heard from Wildcats

Zack Geogheganby:Zack Geoghegan04/03/24

ZGeogheganKSR

Last week, Stetson junior guard Jalen Blackmon entered his name into the transfer portal. At the time, we didn’t know much about him, other than the fact that his father, James Blackmon Sr., was a former McDonald’s All-American and suited up for the Kentucky Wildcats back in the mid-1980s.

Fast forward seven days and there is a possibility that Jalen could follow in his dad’s footsteps.

According to ESPN’s Jeff Borzello, Blackmon has heard from Kentucky since going into the portal on March 27. Along with the Wildcats, Borzello also lists Kansas, Indiana, Northwestern, Xavier, UCLA, Butler, Mississippi State, Colorado, California, Texas, BYU, Utah State, and LMU as schools that have reached out to the two-time All-ASUN selection.

Blackmon will also test the NBA Draft waters.

Blackmon, who hails from Indiana, started his college career at Grand Canyon where he averaged 2.7 points in eight minutes per contest off the bench. He then transferred to Stetson in 2022 and became an immediate impact starter. As a sophomore in 2022-23, Blackmon averaged 15.4 points in 28.9 minutes per game.

As a junior this past season, Blackmon averaged a team-high 21.3 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 1.9 assists in nearly 35 minutes per game. He shot 42.8 percent from the floor, 38.1 percent from deep, and 90.7 percent from the free throw line while starting all 35 games played. The native of Indiana scored at least 20 points in 20 games this past season (sound familiar?), helping lead the Hatters to an NCAA Tournament appearance as a 16-seed.

Jalen’s older brother, James Blackmon Jr., was also a McDonald’s All-American out of high school before spending three productive seasons at Indiana. With the Hoosiers, he averaged 16.3 points and 4.9 rebounds per game throughout his career.

Discuss This Article

Comments have moved.

Join the conversation and talk about this article and all things Kentucky Sports in the new KSR Message Board.

KSBoard

2024-05-02