NCAA Basketball Recruiting: Analyzing top 6 teams for 2025 4-star SF Jaylen Harrell

The start of July is viewed as a milestone in recruitments, including the next class. For the 2025 NCAA Basketball recruiting class, a few players are reportedly set to make decisions. Jaylen Harrell, who hails from the state of Massachusetts, is a 6'6 true small forward with plenty of size and two-way potential, particularlly on offense.

Harrell is a consensus four-star prospect, with 247sports having him in the top-100. Plenty of high-major schools have been in the mix, with six in the running ahead of an announcement on July 1st.

Here's a closer look at how Harrell would fit with each of the six finalists.

Alabama Crimson Tide

On one hand, Alabama will be losing seniors Juwan Gary and Houston Mallette from the wing rotation but there's also incoming freshmen, Derrion Reid and Nassir Cunningham. Both of them are top-30 prospects and could either be early pro prospects or at least clog up the future rotation for someone like Harrell. The team lost former top-100 forward prospect Sam Walters to the portal because of the previous logjam so that's something to consider.

Kansas Jayhawks

The Jayhawks landed a pair of wings this offseason in AJ Storr and Ryland Griffen, both of whom have two years left of eligibility. Along with incoming four-star forward prospect Rakease Passmore, there's a potential logjam for someone like Harrell to deal with, without even knowing what new batch of transfers they could add.

Providence Friars

Providence is likely to lose star forward Bryce Hopkins after next season but they've already been adding wings for the future. Ryan Mela is a four-star incoming freshman and the team has four-star class of 2025 prospect Jamier Jones committed. They could use another top-100 recruit to add to the roster but the Friars do have other needs to address. What does play in their favor is that Harrell is from the area and could want to stay home.

Rutgers Scarlet Knights

There are lots of guards/wings for Rutgers who could be gone after next season, including 5-star freshmen, Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper. Merrimack transfer Jordan Derkack is the only one that reasonably could be back, allowing Harrell to come in and be a factor early on. How Rutgers offense looks with this new cast could be a good indication if they're a good fit with him.

Virginia Tech Hokies

Like Providence, Virginia Tech also has a couple of small forwards waiting to join the team, including class of 2025 commit, Sin'Cere Jones. Considering how much has left the team, there's still room for them to add another prospect in the class. Harrell could get a nice role as a freshman instead of dealing with any logjams with the more loaded rosters.

Xavier Musketeers

The Musketeers don't have any true freshmen on the roster or class of 2025 commits, so look for them to add a few pieces in the next recruiting class. The current group has multiple senior transfer wings in Marcus Foster, Cam'Ron Fletcher, and Dante Maddox. Plus, Jerome Hunter is back for his last season as well.

Xavier would be able to offer early playing time for Harrell but Coach Sean Miller can sell the development of Desmond Claude, the Big East Most Improved POY last season before transferring out. Harrell could be the next breakout wing for the program.