Class of 2025's Jemison talks early recruitment, Virginia offer
During Tony Bennett’s tenure as head coach at Virginia, his staff has made a habit of identifying talent before other high major schools. And that is once again the case with 2025 wing London Jemison.
UVa was the first big-time school to offer the 6-foot-7 forward. And understandably, it’s one that got the St. Thomas More (CT) playmaker’s attention.
“The offer from Virginia was definitely exciting for me because it was my first high major offer,” he told CavsCorner, “and I have always heard a lot of good things about Virginia so I was really excited when I got that offer. Tony Bennett and his staff are really good people over there. They are a winning program and they won a national championship in 2019 so it really meant a lot to me.”
Jemison is coming off a big summer on the Nike EYBL Circuit with Expressions Elite and because of his play, more high-major schools have gotten involved.
“I think the summer went really well,” he explained. “I played with a lot of good players, which helped me get better. I really trained hard with my coaches and teammates so we would perform well in front of the high level college coaches that watched.
“My recruitment definitely picked up over the summer,”Jemison added, “and after I made my move to St. Thomas More. I have really been hearing from more high major schools lately so it has really picked up.”
Assistant coach Orlando Vandross and Bennett have been the coaches staying in contact with him.
“I have been talking to Coach Vandross and Coach Bennett and they have just been telling me to stay in the gym but to also have a balance,”Jemison said. “They don’t want basketball to be everything in my life. But at the end of the day they just want me to keep working on different things because you can always be getting better.”
Jemison also knows the success that Virginia has had with wings that are similar to him.
“I think I would fit pretty well in the Virginia system,” he explained. “Coach Benentt and his staff have had really good success with different wings like DeAndre Hunter. They are really good with working with players that are similar to me and I like the type of offense they run.”
In fact, Jemison was able to catch the documentary “Unbelievable” on the ACC Network that documents Virginia winning the national championship in 2019 and said that he learned a lot during his viewing.
“I watched a documentary about Virginia that was called Unbelievable and I learned that they always just stick together and it is one big family over there,” he said. “They really did bounce back after the loss to UMBC and that journey to them winning the national championship showed a lot about the program and that they can really battle back from anything.”
At this point in the process, Jemison is in no rush to make a college decision and is not completely sure when he would like to announce his decision.
“I have not really begun to think about making a decision yet because I am really just taking it slow and just trying to set up visits to see where I might best fit at and just see the best situation for me,” he said.
In addition to looking set up a visit to Virginia soon, he does have a visit scheduled right now to Providence on August 26.
