GA’s Longino commits to Villanova
Before he chose a school, Germantown Academy’s Jordan Longino had a much bigger decision: He had to select a sport.
A two-sport standout in football and basketball, with Division I recruiting interest for both sports, the 6-foot-5, 205-pound Longino had to pick one or the other. Eventually, hoops won out, which really wasn’t a surprise.
Basketball runs in the family. His father, Eric, played at Illinois-Chicago and SMU. His older brother, Evan-Eric, is a redshirt junior at Kutztown University after playing two seasons at West Chester.
As for the school, Longino made it official Thursday night, choosing Villanova over the likes of Virginia, Marquette, Maryland and Connecticut.
“Villanova was the place I wanted to be,” Longino said. “They’ve been my No. 1 for a
while. Villanova has been recruiting me since I was a sophomore. I really got a chance to develop a strong relationship with every coach on the coaching staff. The more I had one-on-one talks, especially with Coach (Jay) Wright, I knew it was a perfect fit.
“Coach Wright has a great legacy with his guards like Donte DiVincenzo, Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges and Kyle Lowry. They’re guards that I look up to and I want to have as or a more successful career than they did. I want to join the brotherhood at Villanova and join something special.”
The Bucks County resident is the third top-100 player from the Class of 2021 to verbally commit to Villanova. Trey Patterson, a 6-8 power forward from Rutgers Prep in New Jersey and Nnanna Njoku, a 6-9 center/forward from the Sanford School in Delaware committed earlier this year. Longino is ranked 40th in the class nationally and the No. 10 shooting guard by Rivals. com, and No. 96 and the No. 21 shooting guard by 247sports.
He has had quite the career on the court as well as on the football field. In basketball, Longino averaged 22.9 points as a junior, 22.6 as a sophomore and 18.7 as a freshman. He already ranks sixth in school history with 1,562 career points and should break the school record of 1,702 set by former Wildcat Alvin Williams in 1993, according to tedsilary.com.
Longino was selected as the Pennsylvania Class 4A boys basketball Player of the Year in a vote by sports writers.
As a quarterback, Longino threw for 1,964 yards and 16 touchdowns last season, against just four interceptions. He also ran for 277 yards and six scores to lead the Patriots to a 7-2 record. Even though he has chosen to play basketball in college, Longino said he plans to play football one last time, if there is a season.
“Football was always something that I loved since I was young, but basketball took the lead when I got to high school and recruiting started,” he said. “I started playing AAU basketball and I started getting recruited by these top level programs. My end goal is to have a successful college career and play in the NBA and Villanova is the place to help me fulfill that dream.”