Georgia Tech’s newest arrival from the transfer portal needs no introduction to the school. The son of Tech Hall of Famer James Forrest, former Presbyterian guard Jalen Forrest has attended Yellow Jackets basketball and football games since he was 4, his father said Tuesday.
“I told (Tech coach Damon Stoudamire), ‘You don’t know what you’re getting your hands into,’” Forrest told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “‘You’ve got somebody who knows the campus better than you.’”
Jalen Forrest, who made his commitment Tuesday, is far more than a legacy. At Presbyterian, Forrest led the Blue Hose in scoring at 11.3 points per game despite starting only 15 of the team’s 32 games. A 6-foot-4, 230-pound guard from Greenforest-McCalep Christian Academy in DeKalb County, Forrest earned Big South All-Freshman team honors, reaching double figures in 17 of his 27 games. He averaged 2.7 rebounds per game and shot 37.0% from the field.
“The day he went in the portal, I literally was out of town, and ‘Dame’ called me,” James Forrest said. “So he’s like, ‘Hey, man, we’re putting this together. I need Jalen to be a part of this.’ I was like, ‘All good for me, brother.’”
Jalen went into the portal March 24. His father said that “we’re forever grateful” to Presbyterian for giving him an opportunity, but that “it was just time to move on.” Several Presbyterian players went into the portal after the team finished the season with a 5-27 record.
James Forrest said he fielded calls from Tennessee and Vanderbilt, and “every mid-major program in the country called.”
Jalen Forrest can play both guard spots and becomes the sixth player to transfer to Tech since Stoudamire’s hire March 13. Forrest follows Tyzhaun Claude, a 6-8 forward from Western Carolina, Ebenezer Dowuona, a 6-11 forward from N.C. State, Tafara Gapare, 6-9 forward from Massachusetts, Amaree Abram, a 6-4 guard from Ole Miss, and Kowacie Reeves, a 6-6 guard from Florida and Westside High in Macon. Tech’s roster now has 10 scholarship players, with guard Miles Kelly having entered the NBA draft process while retaining his eligibility.
The elder Forrest, who runs an Atlanta-based AAU team, has kept a keen eye on Stoudamire’s recruitment of the portal.
“Putting the team together, getting the wings, the bigs and with (Jalen) and Amaree coming in together, sheesh, it’s just a different ballgame now,” he said, laughing.
In his day at the old Alexander Memorial Coliseum, James Forrest was a high-scoring and athletic forward for coach Bobby Cremins whose career scoring and rebounding totals both rank seventh most in school history. A two-time All-ACC selection and the MVP of the 1993 ACC Tournament, he may be remembered best for his desperation 3-pointer that beat USC in an NCAA Tournament second-round game in 1992, one of three career 3-pointers.
In a new era for the team, his son will have the opportunity to make his own name.
“It’s worked itself out,” the elder Forrest said. “I couldn’t be happier for him. He’s a tough kid; he’s a hardworking kid.”
James Forrest and Stoudamire have a relationship that dates to their being college basketball contemporaries. He called the new coach “as great of a hire as (athletic director J Batt) could have found” and called on fellow Tech alumni to rally around in support of the team.
“We ran this state basketball-wise for a while,” Forrest said. “You can’t run everything, but we did run it in basketball before. We’re going to run it again.”
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