Future Terp Jalen Smith excited to show off skills at McDonald's game

For the third time during Maryland head coach Mark Turgeon’s tenure in College Park, a future Terp will suit up for the McDonald’s All-American Game, which takes place this year Wednesday night in Atlanta.

Baltimore (Md.) Mount St. Joseph five-star forward Jalen Smith is the latest in a long line of Terps named to the McDonald’s All-American Game, joining the likes of past greats such as Adrian Branch and Keith Booth. Smith arrived in The ATL Sunday and is on cloud nine as he prepares for Wednesday night’s game.

“It feels great,” Smith told TSR following practice on Monday at the Atlanta Hawks practice facility. “I’m still getting adjusted and I’m still wowed by it, but it’s a great atmosphere and I’m pretty much cool with everybody here and it’s just fun getting to know everybody and play basketball.”

In preparation of this week’s all-star game Smith worked out regularly with his personal trainer Josh Morgan-Green, specifically looking to hone a certain set of skills he hopes to show off in front of a national audience.

“For the past few days or the past few weeks before coming here I’ve been working on all guard skills,” said Smith. “I know it’s an all-star game and people want to showcase their talents, so I’ve been working on dribbling and my outside range. It’s been getting better, but there’s still a lot more I need to improve on and want to start working on in practice.”

But just because Smith is hoping to show off his perimeter skills doesn’t mean he isn’t ready to mix it up inside if he has to. Smith has continued to transform his body and get stronger, which has been an emphasis since his high school season ended.

“Pretty much every day after the season was over I was in the weight room just getting prepared for the McDonald’s game and the Jordan game,” Smith said.

Although they have only had one practice together so far, Smith has enjoyed getting to work with the East’s point guards, while he’s excited to test his wing skills against some of the top players in the country.

“I play with the East, so we had one practice yesterday,” Smith said. “It was fun playing with Coby [White] and Immanual [Quickley] again and Darius [Garland] because they are all great point guards and they facility and look for open people. But I’m pretty much just looking forward to matching up with anyone they put me up against because I’m not really a big here, I’m more of a small forward, power forward.”

Being a McDonald’s All-American means being the face of Maryland basketball for Smith. And with that comes the responsibility of helping recruit future teammates to join him in College Park, something he’s prepared to do.

“It’s a lot of guys in 2019,” said Smith. “Most of them come from Takeover, so I’ll be talking to them. In 2018, I think it’s one person, but I forgot the name Coach Turgeon told me.”

Looking beyond the McDonald’s game, Smith is set to begin his career in College Park this summer, while there is still some uncertainty about how the Terps frontcourt will look when he arrives. Regardless of how things shake out, Smith believes he can come in and make an impact.

“I feel like I’m coming in and helping the team a lot because I’m taking a load off of a lot of the guys in scoring and helping them rebounding and push the ball,” said Smith. “I’m pretty much just going to be enthusiastic and helping the team out and just pumping everybody up.”

Has his senior season helped his confidence about just how much he can contribute next season for Maryland? Smith believes it has.

“It was high when I committed, but now it’s very high because I know I can come in and make an impact and a lot of people are looking to me to come in and make an impact, so I’m just trying to do my best to just play my game.”

The 41st annual McDonald's All-American Game will take place Wed. March 28 inside Philips Arena in Atlanta. The game is set to begin at 7 p.m. EST and will be aired live on ESPN.

(Eric Bossi contributed to this story)