West Virginia’s Top Player a Future Mountaineer?
Brad Smith
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West Virginia does things to people. If you only spend a short amount of time here, you may not understand, but if you live here for a long period time, its magic seeps into your pores. You start to realize that a whole state of good, hard-working, honest people are united behind one team, the West Virginia Mountaineers. West Virginia is the Mountaineers.
Ask Jalen Bridges. The Fairmont, West Virginia native had offers from all over the country and decided to stay home and play 20 minutes from where he grew up.
Jaemyn Brakefield, the 6’9 220 pound 5 star recruit, is originally from Jackson, Mississippi but has played at Huntington Prep and lived in Huntington, West Virginia since he was in the 9th grade.
Brakefield is exceptionally special. He is a top 20-30 prospect in the entire country and he’s an in-state product. Yes, he’s from Mississippi but he’s grown into a man in West Virginia. To get technical, he only really lived in Mississippi from the ages of 11 through 14. His formative years were spent in Huntington. Jaemyn Brakefield is a West Virginian. Sorry, Mississippi.
While in Huntington, Brakefield has been dominant on an absolutely terrific Huntington Prep team. On a team of future stars and highly-touted recruits, he’s the superstar. As a Junior last season, he averaged 19.3 point per game on 51% from the field. He’s a left-handed powerhouse under the basket and can step out and shoot from the mid-range as well.
His Head Coach at Huntington Prep, Arkell Bruce, described him as ” very versatile, can guard multiple positions, an exceptional talent, a top 20 player nationally” during my interview with him. Bruce has coached many talented players but none with any more elite upside than Brakefield. Bruce also revealed during the interview that Brakefield is very interested in WVU.
Isaiah Cottrell, the 6’10 4 star recruit from Las Vegas, Nevada, recently moved from his hometown to live and play in Huntington to play with Huntington Prep and Jaemyn Brakefield. Once you have West Virginia in your system, it’s hard to get it out. Although Brakefield can go anywhere he wants, West Virginia is the right spot for him. Isaiah Cottrell, Jalen Bridges and Jaemyn Brakefield could form one of Bob Huggins’ best recruiting classes ever.