Jaelin Llewellyn Leaves Orangeville to Attend Virginia Episcopal

After a successful season at Athlete Institute that saw Jaelin Llewellyn become the starting point guard, appear in the BioSteel All Canadian and – most notably -win the 2016 BioSteel dunk contest, he has decided to move on and join Virginia Episcopal.

Virginia Episcopal will be the third school Llewellyn has joined in as many years, after leading Father Goetz of Mississauga to Peel playoff appearances, and Orangeville Prep last season to a runner up finish in the OSBA.

Despite the success, including the Jordan Brand Invitational back in February against American powerhouse Oak Hill Academy, Llewellyn has decided to leave the familiar confines of Ontario, and take on new challenges south of the border.

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In Llewellyn’s own words, the decision was more based around taking on a new challenge off of the court, as opposed to on it:

“A main reason would be academics. I feel like I get the most out of my learning experience when I’m challenged, and I think VES will help me be the best I can be in the classroom. Also, with having a larger role on the court, I think it will help me grow and develop the leadership traits every great point guard needs to truly be successful.” 

The decision may be a surprise to some, specifically Athlete Institute itself, which had recently tweeted a photo of Llewellyn, welcoming him back just a few days ago.

Regardless of how it turned out, sources close to Llewellyn’s family stated they had been actively looking for a new school for most of the summer, while he was playing for CIA Bounce in AAU.

Athlete Institute will now be without a number of it’s best players from last year, including the recently drafted Thon Maker, and with a new coaching staff in place this coming season, it will be interesting to see how the organization bounces back after another departure from their starting lineup.

Virginia Episcopal, on the other hand, will be adding a considerable talent to a roster that finished 14-8 last season, while managing to land forward Sacha Killeya-Jones to both an appearance at the 2016 McDonald’s All-American, and a commit to Kentucky.

Despite Llewellyn’s success so far, it would still be quite the feat to be featured in any of those conversations as well, now that he will be joining an unprecedented sea of talent south of the border in the prep circuit.

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No word yet as to if Llewellyn will be facing his former team this season.