Recruiting Watch: Jalen Haralson Scores 22 in Comeback Win
Fishers sophomore Jalen Haralson is one of the most sought after recruits in the country for the 2025 class. Our Rivals rankings have him as the ninth best prospect in the country and the top player in Indiana. Naturally, that makes the 6'7" guard a priority target for pretty much everyone. He already holds Big Ten offers from Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, and Purdue, so there is a very good chance we will see him in some capacity in Mackey Arena during the 2025-26 season.
Friday night I was able to see him in person for the second time. I managed to see him last year when Fishers headed to Zionsville, and this year it was Zionsville's turn to visit Fishers in Hoosier Crossroads Conference play.
I have seen Zionsville quite a bit this year and they boast a very strong defense, so I was excited to see this one. They give up just over 45 points per game and they had strong defensive efforts earlier this year against Flory Bidunga (a career low 2 points given up in 48-41 Zionsville win) and against Kanon Catchings (16 points in a 44-40 Brownsburg win).
In terms of the eye test, Haralson meets it. He is listed as 6'7", 205 pounds and even though he is only a sophomore, he has the look of a top prospect physically. He has a bigger build that Catchings and Myles Colvin from what I have seen, but Zionsville had the size to fluster him. Charlotte signee Nick Richart is a strong presence in the middle for the Eagles at 6'9" and is the anchor of their 2-3 zone. Maguire Mitchell, a promising 6'5" sophomore wing was also solid on the wing defensively.
Early on the defense held. Zionsville was in complete control early in the fourth quarter and led 43-31 with 7:48 left. Haralson had 12 to that point, but he was 0 for 4 from three and had even picked up a technical foul with 2:43 left in the third quarter for arguing a call.
The fourth quarter was all Fishers, and Haralson was a big reason for that. Zionsville did not hit a field goal in the final 7:48 and Fishers closed the game on an impressive 21-2 run with Haralson scoring 10 of those 21 in a 52-45 Fishers win. Fishers is just 13-10 on the season, but there have been some big moments where they have let Haralson take over. This was one of them. He was extremely quick to the basket and had the strength to get to the rim repeatedly. He scored seven straight by either scoring on the drive or getting to the line.
It was his athleticism that stood out to me. Zionsville is a team with two Divsion I players in Richart and Penn State-bound Logan Imes, plus Mitchell is drawing early interest. When Fishers made it a point for Haralson to take the game over Zionsville had no answer.
Haralson finished with 22 points on 8 of 19 shooting. All of his makes were right at the rim as he was not afraid to attack against anyone. He was 6 of 10 from the line and 0 for 3 from three. While his percentage wasn't great, he showed why he had a school record 48 points in a 76-70 loss to Anderson 10 days ago. Having seen him, Catchings, and Colvin in person this year I'd have to say that he is the best of the three. Even right now. Colvin was limited in his team's offense when I saw him in December and Catchings doesn't have the physical build yet that Haralson has. I also had him for 7 rebounds and a pair of nice assists, as he was good at kicking the ball out to shooters. You can tell he has that ability to completely take a game over at pretty much any time.
He was also impressive on defense. Fishers flustered Zionsville with a press to get back in the game and Haralson did an excellent job being disruptive in the middle of it. He is the type of player that if he buys in on both ends, he would be a tremendous asset.
Obviously it is still early in his recruitment, but Purdue has offered and they are definitely going after him. It will be fun to see where they go as he has a big summer on the AAU circuit coming up.