Update: Jahque Alleyne has committed to Virginia Tech.

Jahque Alleyne started for Ocean Lake High School in Virginia Beach for the first time in his junior year. He finished up the season without any offers to play football at the next level. He was the unknown player on an Ocean Lake team that had four other players getting multiple offers from colleges.

Now, the defensive back is known throughout the country. He has received twelve offers and has narrowed his list of schools he is considering to six.

Alleyne is considering attending the University of Virginia, Louisville, East Carolina University, Oregon, Kentucky, and Virginia Tech.

Kentucky surprised the rising senior with an offer in March. At that point Alleyne wasn’t receiving much attention, and Kentucky took him by surprise.

“It meant a lot. Started one season, and getting an offer from an SEC school, I didn’t really expect it. It was like ‘Oh. Wow. SEC offer after just one season? Okay.’ That just really made me step my game up even more,” Alleyne said.

Kentucky might have a better shot than Virginia or Virgnia Tech at landing Alleyne. He says he looks forward to the opportunity to leave his home state, open up his mind, and explore new parts of the country.

Alleyne loves playing football and wants to play early on in college. He says this is one thing that colleges are talking to him about.

“Most of them have guaranteed me sure starting spot, which I’m pretty sure most schools do. I know what schools are really interested because they will keep in touch with me,” Alleyne said.

According to Jahque, Kentucky, UVA, Oregon, Louisville and, from time to time, ECU have all kept in touch. He says that both Old Dominion and UNC-Charlotte have talked to him often, but those two schools are “out of the picture.”

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Another factor he is considering is where his teammates are going. Three star linebacker Jahvoni Simmons, and three star cornerback T.J. Griffin are two of several Ocean Lake players to get offers.

“We sometimes talk about going to the same school. It takes a lot of work talking to each other and seeing what we each got,” Alleyne said.

He explained that when recruits come to look at his teammates, it can only be beneficial for him because they will look over and take notice of his skills.

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“If we all decide on signing day, then we still want to go to the same school. So far we’ve been talking about a couple,” Alleyne said.

Oregon and Virginia both have offered Alleyne, Simmons, and Griffin scholarships. Alleyne would not comment on which schools the teammates are considering collectively.

Jahque is still getting attention from Georgia, Illinois, Penn State, and Tennessee, and he hopes that these schools will also hand him offers sometime during his senior season.

One major reason for Alleyne getting some attention: his performance in his junior year.

“It went pretty well. I did a lot of things I didn’t expect to do. I caught seven interceptions, tying the school record. I broke the school record for most picks in a game,” Alleyne said.

His aggressive playing style yielded 62 tackles, 1 forced fumble, and 7 interceptions last year. His four interceptions in one game broke the previous school record of three in one game.

“I’m aggressive when I have to be. A lot of guys might say they’re aggressive, but I say I’m extremely aggressive. I don’t really like to lose,” Alleyne said. “I’ll score whenever you give me the ball. If I catch an interception, I’m gonna try to score. There might not be blockers in front of me, but you aren’t gonna take me down. I may not be the biggest guy on the field, but I won’t go down.”

He has drawn comparisons to Ed Reed and Brian Dawkins from some of his teammates.

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While one eye is towards the future, the other is focusing on how to make his senior season the best it can be.

“My senior year is going to be another good year for me,” Alleyne said.

Even though he might have started as an unknown, Jahque Alleyne surely has the makings of a quality college football player. Keep an eye out for more offers going his way in the coming months.

–Michael Stern

@MSternTLB