Minneapolis (Minn.) Minnehaha Academy two-sport standout Jalen Suggs is a five-star basketball recruit and a four-star football prospect. This past Tuesday the focus was football when he traveled to Columbus to take part in Ohio State’s summer camp.
“One of my good friends, Jashon Cornell, goes to Ohio State,” Suggs said. “He told me to come down and take a look, so I’ve always wanted to go down. Obviously they are a prestigious program and I thought it would be a lot of fun.”
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Ohio State coaches had been to Suggs’ school earlier this spring and extended the 6-foot-5, 195-pound quarterback a scholarship offer in May, but Tuesday’s visit was the first time on the Buckeye’s camps for the Minneapolis product.
“I made the trip down, saw the coaching staff, looked around the locker room and all the facilities,” Suggs said. “It, honestly, was just a really nice visit. Going in I knew that everyone would be there to work because they’re a program that likes to win and that’s their main goal.”
The winning mentality was confirmed for Suggs during his conversations with Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer.
“He said: ‘two things I look for in a quarterback is you’ve got to be tough and you’ve got to be able to win.’ I told him those are my characteristics,” Suggs recalled. “While we were on the visit talking with him and Coach (Ryan) Day, seeing the weight room, locker room, all the trophies and rings... it was the environment of a winner.”
Besides Ohio State, Suggs holds football offers from Iowa, Iowa State, Minnesota and Nebraska. That number is even bigger in basketball and includes top hoops programs like Florida, Kansas and UCLA.
At this stage of his high school career, Suggs is undecided whether he will play basketball, football or both sports in college. One factor that could help football’s cause is that Minnehaha features three more Power 5-offered prospects in four-stars Kaden Johnson and Terry Lockett and three-star Craig McDonald.
“We are definitely all close; best friends on and off the field,” Suggs said. “Going to college all together, that would be something I think we all think about. It would be a really cool time and experience just to have people you have grown up with, that you know and trust alongside as you go through that journey.
“But, at the end of the day, one school may not be the best fit for all of us, so we’re going to continue to have fun with the recruiting process and get to know as many coaches and programs as we can. Then, when the time comes and we have to make a decision, we’ll all talk about it.”
Suggs’ focus will return to basketball this weekend after traveling to Colorado Springs to take part in the Team USA U17 training camp. He is ranked as the No. 6 overall prospect in the 2020 class and a five-star prospect in basketball.
