Miami (Fla.) Gulliver Prep five-star wide receiver
Jalen Brown has quickly learned that it's probably smart to commit to a school and not a coach. Brown, after all, has seen a number of assistants change logos over the past few weeks and that has him trying to take his time with the entire recruiting process. Still, while Brown might not want to rush into making a commitment, a series of coaching changes does have him wanting to check out some places as soon as possible.
"I'm going to try and take some visits in March, but it's going to be hard because I have a lot of track meets. So, when I start taking a lot of visits, it might be April or in the summer," Brown told 247Sports on Monday night when asked for the latest.
A school that Brown wants to see right away?
That would be Miami.
Brown has spent plenty of time in Coral Gables over the years, but is now being recruited by his third different wide receivers coach in less than three months as Josh Gattis is set to replace Bryan McClendon, who left for Georgia after initially taking over Rob Likens following Manny Diaz's exit. While that amount of coaching turnover sometimes can hurt a school during the recruiting process, it actually sounds like Gattis getting tabbed as Mario Cristobal's offensive coordinator could make the Hurricanes very hard to beat down the stretch.
"Me and Coach Gattis are cool," Brown said. "We talk a lot. He's a good coach. His offense, it varies. It goes by the strength of the players. So, if you have big linemen and a strong running back, they are going to run it. If he's got a good receiving corps with a good quarterback, then the ball will be in the air, which I like. He plays to his strength, and he's a winning coach."
Gattis actually spoke with Brown on Monday to discuss his decision to leave Michigan.
"He was just saying that he's coming to Miami to build up Miami. It was just like what Coach Cristobal said," Brown explained. "He's trying to keep the talent home and bring Miami back."
What's also interesting to note about Brown's relationship with Gattis is that Gattis was one of the first coaches to really make Brown feel like a priority.
"Both times we went up [to Ann Arbor], we met with him," Brown's father, James, said. "It was Xs and Os and just life in general. I think he's a really good guy. He's genuine. If I'm not mistaken, I think Jalen was like the first kid he recruited in that class. If not the first, then one of the first. Him reaching out so early was refreshing. It felt right."
While the Hurricanes might be in a good spot as anyone at the moment to eventually land Brown's signature, the younger Brown made it clear that he also wants to check out LSU at some point down the line as he knows Brian Kelly from the veteran coach's time at Notre Dame and is very familiar with new Tigers' assistant Cortez Hankton, who was previously recruiting him to Georgia.
"They recruited me when they were at their other schools. So, we already got a little connection," Brown said.
Texas is another school that Brown wants to tour this spring and that's in large part because of new Longhorns' assistant Brennan Marion, who put Brown through some drills at an FIU mega camp last summer while on staff at Pittsburgh.
As for a decision?
"I don't have a target date yet," Brown said. "I want to just see some more schools and then go from there."
Alabama, Texas A&M, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Michigan and FSU are a few other schools Brown highlighted when asked about potential visits.
