Jaylen Brantley Update

Jaylen Brantley continues to stride

Brantley blazin' his path

- So what has Jaylen Brantley been up to in the two months since his Cadillac July?  Chillin' out, basking in the glory of being one of only several sub-six-feet basketball prospects in America to enter their junior year of high school possessing offers from high major college basketball programs?  Of course not.  J-Brant has been feverishly working to to take his game to yet another level.  According to Brantley, receiving scholarship offers from historical college basketball programs such as Syracuse, Louisville, and Georgetown only "added fuel to the fire, and made me realize I need to work harder to prove I can play at a high level."

In August and September, in addition to working out with a basketball usually multiple times per day, Brantley added to his regimen by putting himself on a strict daily-diet of P-90X.  It shows.  Yesterday at the Middlesex Magic Fall Classic at Babson College, Brantley filled out his BABC uniform with a new chiseled frame which gives him the look of a prize-fighter point guard   This added strength gives Brantley a whole new dimension as a point guard as he is now playing through contact consistently and yesterday spent the afternoon initiating contact on both ends and tactifully dictating the physical relationship with the opposing point guard.  Brantley had opposing guards on his hip all afternoon, calmly warding them off with his body at an angle while directing the heavy traffic of the BABC offense.  Of course, when any guard gets stronger, the basketball mind worries about whether the player will lose lateral quickness, explosiveness and flexibility.  This doesn't seem to be the case for Brantley.  In fact, it looks like the opposite as his foot speed was terrific as he guarded the ball and he looked more explosive off both off the bounce and the slide while retaining his trademark fluidity and balance off the hop and stop.

Heading into his junior year-October, the complete list of Brantley's offers consists of Syracuse, Cincinnati, Georgetown, Louisville, URI, Virginia, Missouri, Iowa St, Hofstra, and Richmond. As his body and physical abilities continue to catch up with his basketball skills and IQ, J-Brant looks to be on the path to being among America's most highly-coveted point guards in the class of '13.  

In terms of his workout regimen, Brantley is about ready to add a new recipe to the mix...VertiMax is due to arrive at Wilbraham & Monson this week.  Much more tomorrow on the Middlesex Magic Fall Classic.