Virginia transfer Jalen Warley commits to Gonzaga, will redshirt this season
Gonzaga’s commitment to the defensive side of the ball has yielded positive results through five games for the third-ranked team in the country.
On Monday, the Zags received a commitment that could help ensure they don’t slip too much, if at all, on that end of the floor next season.
Jalen Warley, a transfer from Virginia who left the Cavaliers in the wake of Tony Bennett’s retirement, announced his commitment to Gonzaga on Monday, revealing to On3.com’s Joe Tipton he’d chosen the Bulldogs over his other finalist, Iowa State.
The 6-foot-7 wing who played three seasons at Florida State before transferring to Virginia will redshirt this season before spending his final year of eligibility with Mark Few’s program in 2025-26.
Warley entered the transfer portal on Oct. 29, roughly two weeks before Bennett, the coach at Washington State from 2006-09, announced his retirement from Virginia in a move that shocked the college basketball world.
A former top-50 national recruit, Warley took two official visits, traveling to Spokane for Gonzaga’s 113-54 home win over UMass Lowell, before visiting Iowa State. Warley told The Spokesman-Review he was also planning to see Texas A&M, but hadn’t finalized a date by the time he arrived at Gonzaga and eventually canceled his visit to College Station, Texas, according to CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein.
Gonzaga made a solid first impression on Warley, who has ties to the Bulldogs’ coaching staff through assistant R-Jay Barsh. The second-year GU assistant overlapped with Barsh for one season at Florida State while working under Seminoles coach Leonard Hamilton.
Warley found Gonzaga appealing for a number of reasons, beginning with the program’s track record developing guards who’ve gone on to successful careers in the NBA.
“I really like the pace they play at and really the success they’ve had over a long period of time is really attractive, because they’re consistent and coach Few is really good at developing guards at this level and also for the next level as well,” Warley told the S-R.
The transfer watched GU’s blowout win over UMass Lowell from the baseline seat normally reserved for prospective players and said he thoroughly enjoyed the Kennel’s gameday atmosphere.
“Especially the student section, it felt really special, it was a lot of energy,” Warley said. “You could just tell the players really enjoy interacting with the fans and kind of the energy they try to feed into it, it makes sense why they’ve been so successful at a high level and why people love to come play for Gonzaga.”
A native of Philadelphia, Warley was expected to be a centerpiece for Virginia this season after starting in 58 of the 96 games he played at Florida State and averaging 7.5 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.8 assists last season.
His defensive presence should be valuable to a Gonzaga team that could lose six of its eight rotation piece, but is expected to bring back sophomore standouts Braden Huff and Dusty Stromer along with Emmanuel Innocenti, another defensive-minded player who’s usually been the fourth player off Few’s bench.
Braeden Smith, a Colgate transfer who’s redshirting this season, is expected to take over point guard duties from Ryan Nembhard, and the Zags could also bring back a group players that includes wings Steele Venters and Jun Seok Yeo, along with freshman center Ismaila Diagne. Four-star guard/forward Davis Fogle is currently the only member of Gonzaga’s 2025 high school recruit. Fogle, a native of Anacortes who’s spending his senior season at Phoenix powerhouse Compass Prep, signed with Gonzaga on Nov. 15.