Recognizing his success in high school basketball as well as football,
Jalen Suggs joined a list that includes Patrick Mahomes, Kyler Murray and Lonzo Ball in becoming the MaxPreps Male Athlete of the Year in 2019-20.
During an impressive five-year run at
Minnehaha Academy (Minneapolis, Minn.), Suggs amassed 2,945 points, 883 rebounds, 735 assists, 509 steals and 103 blocks in 154 career games while leading the Red Hawks to three consecutive state championships. He also competed in games as an eighth grader.
As a senior, he led Minnehaha Academy to a 26-3 record and No. 13 in the final MaxPreps Top 25 before COVID-19 cut his quest for a fourth consecutive state crown short. The 6-foot-4 guard averaged 23.3 points, 7.5 rebounds, five assists and 3.9 steals per game to earn first team MaxPreps All-American honors.
Jalen Suggs soars for a dunk during his senior year at Minnehaha Academy.
File Photo: Josh Johnson
Suggs also starred on the gridiron in high school, passing for 2,213 yards and 25 touchdowns while rushing for 978 yards and 12 more scores as a senior. Defensively, he logged nine
interceptions, returning two for touchdowns. He did so for SMB, a
cooperative of Minnehaha Academy with St. Paul Academy and Blake,
leading the team to the state finals.
In his lone season at Gonzaga, Suggs averaged 14.4 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.5 assists per contest to earn consensus second team All-American honors.
The impact guard helped lead the Bulldogs to the national title game, falling just shy of an unbeaten season with a record of 31-1. He cemented his place in NCAA Tournament lore with a memorable buzzer-beating three that he banked in from 30 feet away to send Gonzaga to the national championship game with a 93-90 victory over UCLA in overtime.
Suggs was selected fifth overall by the Orlando Magic in the 2021 NBA Draft Thursday night.
