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Alijah Arenas is one of the top prospects in high school. He ranks fourth nationally in the Class of 2026. However, while talking to host Jordan Richard of "The Youngins Sports Podcast," Arenas said that he had to play his way up when he was in AAU. Swish Cultures posted the video on Tuesday in which Arenas talks about starting from the bottom.
"I always played up so I always learn things you have to learn it like this and my coach didn't care who I was. Everybody thinks I've always been this guy that was like I played the whole minute. No, I started like three minutes a game and he was like yo you got to earn this," Arenas said. (6:54 - 7:14)
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"I started working, got to like 4, probably like 8, 9 and then my averages went up and then I just became like who I was. But no he was just like I don't care like, he looked at me he was like I don't care who your dad is, I don't care who you are. You are just like everybody else. You got to play and you got to work hard" (7:14 - 7:33)
Alijah Arenas has been putting in effort for Chatsworth this season as he begins his junior year. So far, the 6-foot-5 shooting guard has played four games and averaged 26.3 points, 8.5 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 1.3 steals and 0.3 blocks. In 35 games as a sophomore, he averaged 33.0 points, 8.6 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 1.3 steals and 0.9 blocks.
For the Compton Magic in the Adidas 3SSB circuit at the 17U level, Arenas averaged 21.4 points while shooting 48%, including 24.3% from beyond the arc.
Alijah Arenas' college offers
According to On3, Alijah Arenas has received 20 offers from top programs across the nation including UCLA, Arizona, Fresno State, Washington State, Nevada, Kansas, Xavier, Oklahoma State, Ole Miss and Virginia Tech, among others.
According to On3's recruiting prediction machine, UCLA has a 34.4% chance of signing the five-star prospect. Arizona is a close second, with a 30.1% chance of acquiring Arenas. They are followed by Fresno State, which has a 2.4% probability, and the remaining universities, which have a 2% chance of landing Arenas' pledge.
Do you think Alijah Arenas will reclassify for the Class of 2025? If yes, which college would he choose?
