Temple lands Penn State transfer Jameel Brown
Temple’s backcourt rebuild got another boost Friday when Penn State transfer guard Jameel Brown announced his verbal commitment to the Owls.
Brown, who grew up in North Philadelphia not far from Temple’s campus, entered the NCAA’s transfer portal back on March 22 after a sophomore season in which he averaged 4.0 points in a little more than 10 minutes per game. The 6-foot-4, 188-pound shooting guard scored in double figures four times this season, including three Big Ten games.
Brown’s verbal commitment is the third for Temple out of the portal this week, following those of New Mexico transfer guard Jamal Mashburn Jr. and former St. Joe’s point guard Lynn Greer III.
Although his stats wouldn’t indicate as much (Brown shot 31.9% from three-point range this season), the former Haverford School and Westtown star gives Temple another capable shooter. He scored a season- and career-high 20 points in Penn State’s season-opening win over Delaware State on 6 of 8 shooting from three and shot nearly 70% (11 of 16) from beyond the arc in the Nittany Lions’ first four games.
A right foot injury kept Brown off the floor from late November to late December, and it seemed to affect his play throughout the rest of Penn State’s season, although he managed to flash in a handful of Big Ten games. He scored 13 points in 17 minutes in a Jan. 13 loss to No. 1 Purdue and 14 points on 4 of 5 shooting from three in a Feb. 3 road win at Indiana. And in Penn State’s Feb. 21 upset win over then-No. 12 Illinois, Brown chipped in 11 points on 4 of 8 shooting, including 3 of 7 from beyond the arc.
Brown, who will have two seasons of eligibility remaining, took an official visit to Tulane last weekend according to multiple sources familiar with his recruitment before choosing Temple.
Rivals rated Brown as a 3-star, top-150 recruit in the 2022 class. The previous Temple staff recruited and offered Brown, along with programs like Auburn, Minnesota and Notre Dame, before he was successfully recruited to Penn State by current head coach Adam Fisher, who was then a Nittany Lions assistant under Micah Shrewsberry.
With Brown, Greer III and Mashburn Jr. in the fold, along with incoming freshmen Aiden Tobiason and Dillon Battie, Temple has three more scholarships available for the upcoming season and will turn its attention to recruiting frontcourt players in the portal.