In what shouldn’t come as a surprise, Jalen DeLoach, a VCU player who entered the transfer portal last week in wake of former VCU coach Mike Rhodes leaving for Penn State, is considering his coach’s new school.
Decision Coming Soon ❤️4️⃣ pic.twitter.com/i5TyLXjKQE
— D I F F E R E N T 👾 (@JalenDeloach) April 4, 2023
DeLoach announced Tuesday afternoon via Twitter that Penn State is in his top six, along with Florida State, Indiana, Miami, San Diego State and, interestingly enough, VCU. He tweeted that his decision is “coming soon.”
He averaged 9.7 points and 6.9 rebounds per game last season, helping VCU to a sweep of the regular-season and tournament championships in the Atlantic 10. VCU got a 12 seed in the NCAA Tournament and fell in the first round to fifth-seeded St. Mary’s.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.DeLoach is one of five VCU players to enter the portal. Of those five, the most prominent is reigning A-10 player of the year Ace Baldwin, who announced that he’d be entering the portal as Rhoades was giving his introductory press conference at Penn State Thursday afternoon. A source confirmed with Nittany Sports Now Thursday night that Penn State is targeting Baldwin. Baldwin, who averaged 12.7 points and 5.8 assists this past season, would be a fine replacement for Jalen Pickett, an All-American who was one of seven seniors on this year’s Penn State team.
It doesn’t appear that the seven seniors will be the only ones moving on from Penn State. Five players have entered the transfer portal, with the most recent being Kebba Njie, Penn State’s top-rated signee of the 2022 recruiting cycle. Additionally, all three of Penn State’s ‘23 signees requested their LOI releases, and one of them, Braeden Shrewsberry, has already found a home, following his dad, Micah, to Notre Dame. Micah Shrewsberry, of course, was Penn State’s head coach before Rhoades and accepted the Notre Dame job less than 72 hours after the end of last season.
Currently, Penn State has two scholarship players from last season on the roster and out of the transfer portal; Kanye Clary and Demetrius Lilley.
