Alabama Basketball: Who is 2019 commit Jaylen Forbes?

Alabama Basketball is hot on the recruiting trail, and Avery Johnson’s work is showing. This time it comes in the form of 2019 recruit Jaylen Forbes.

Alabama Basketball is doing whatever it takes to maximize its potential after Collin Sexton’s year at the Capstone. Avery Johnson is using the publicity that having a lottery player brings in his recruiting. This was proven on Thursday as ESPN 100 recruit Jaylen Forbes announced his decision to join the Crimson Tide via Twitter.

Forbes is ranked as the 70th best player of the 2019 class and the 2nd best in the state of Mississippi. He’s a 6’4″ shooting guard from Florence High School. He joins Juwan Gary as the only committed members to the 2019 Tide recruiting class after Diante Smith recently decommitted from Alabama.

After watching his highlights, it becomes obvious that he is a shoot-first playmaker. If you give him enough space, he can get a clean shot off from behind the arc. He has the ability to elude his defenders off screens to get separation. It will definitely be harder against SEC defenders, but he shows promise nonetheless.

It will be hard to picture what the Tide will look like in 2020 without knowing the plans of some current stars, but there could easily be an early opening for him on the depth chart if sharpshooter John Petty declares for the NBA draft this spring. Forbes might be alluding to it in his tweet, as he has an edited picture of him and an Alabama jersey. The jersey he is wearing has John Petty’s number, implying that he might not be there by the time Forbes steps onto campus. Petty has given no sign that he is leaving, but it’s definitely in the realm of possibility.

Even if Petty stays, there will be a role for Forbes early on. He has the talent to make a difference on a competitive team. His spacing could let bigs like Donta Hall and Daniel Giddens dominate the paint. His sharpshooting ability could let Herbert Jones drive and kick out, assuming he is still in a crimson jersey after this season. If it ever comes to it, we would have a team that could simply shoot the lights out of Coleman Coliseum if he and Petty are on the floor together. His length is not what Alabama fans are used to seeing in recent memory, but he has a long enough wingspan to contest jumpers.

All in all, Tide fans should be ecstatic with the early recruiting efforts of Avery Johnson in the 2019 class.