COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KRHD) — Texas A&M basketball is entering the upcoming season with a clear identity: longer, more athletic, and built to finish at the rim. At the center of that transformation is transfer forward Jalen Shelley, a 6-foot-9 playmaker from Dallas whom head coach Bucky McMillan targeted specifically to address the team's need for positional length — without sacrificing the skill that defined last year's squad.
"Whenever you can find length with skill, like that's — you got to grab that up," McMillan said.
Shelley joins the Aggies after playing in the West Coast Conference and brings a rare combination of size and guard-like versatility. McMillan envisions him primarily at the 3 position, though his skill set allows him to slide between positions 1 through 4.
"He can play a point guard; he could play a 4," McMillan said. "What we do, which is 4 guys on the perimeter — really he's developed the shooting, really sees the game well, and a really good defender."
McMillan pointed to a structural gap in American player development as the reason players like Shelley are so hard to find.
"A lot of times here you have a taller player; they put them on the block, so that's why you don't see the skill with long players as much," McMillan said.
He credited assistant coach Bill Armstrong — who coached Shelley at Link Academy in high school — with helping him evaluate the forward's upside. "I asked him a lot about him and he had a lot of good things to say about his potential," McMillan said. "Not many out there — we had to get him. Texas kid, right here from Dallas." Shelley is currently managing a minor injury but is expected to contribute significantly this season. He was officially cleared on Aug. 2 — the same day the Aggies played their first game on their foreign tour in the Bahamas.
"I think like maybe a month before we went to the Bahamas is when things started really ramping up," Shelley said. "My actual day of being fully clear was like August 2nd, so like the day we played our first game in the Bahamas was like the actual day I could've been live and stuff like that."
Shelley said the defense McMillan runs is unlike anything he played in college before — and he reached for a football analogy to explain it.
"It's aggressive," Shelley said. "Kind of reminds me — if we put it in a football sense — like the Vikings defense. Like the Vikings defense blitz a lot and they're trying to go at the quarterback, and they put a lot of men. That same aggression is on the basketball floor. We just trying to come at you, trying to wear people down, and just keep going and going."
The closest parallel in his background, he said, came from high school. "We ran a 2-2-1 press like the whole game," Shelley said. "But nothing like where it's just constant, like we nonstop track meet." Shelley's path to College Station has not been linear. He originally committed to Arkansas before the coaching staff departed for USC, forcing him back into the transfer portal. Texas A&M is now his third school.
"Not everything will go exactly how you wanted or planned, but I think I'm back on track," Shelley said.
Being back in Texas was a significant factor in his decision, and so were familiar faces already on the roster. Shelley said he has known teammate Ryland since kindergarten and has trained with Jeremiah since sixth grade — a bond that gave him candid insight into what McMillan's program is really like. "Coaches aren't really the most honest when it comes to recruitment, so you have to really talk to a player to really understand how they are as a person," Shelley said.
What those conversations revealed only deepened his interest. "They were just telling me, like, Bucky really cares," Shelley said. "He's not like a coach that's like worried about his resume and winning games. He really cares about just the production and getting guys better and trying to do what's best for the team."
McMillan is equally high on Shelley as a person and a player. "He's like a really smart kid, a very smart, high basketball IQ," McMillan said. "Dad was a professional athlete. Dribble, pass, shoot — a joy to be around. Other players gravitate towards him. He's a good dude."
Returning forward Zach Clemence has embraced a leadership role as one of the few players back from last year's group, and he echoed that assessment of his new teammate.
"He's a freak athlete, super good," Clemence said. "I've only seen him get better, so it's encouraging. I'm actually excited to see him play because he's super athletic and he's fun to watch." For Clemence, the addition of length across the roster has been an immediate, visible upgrade.
"We got a bunch of bigger players," Clemence said. "It definitely helps. You can notice it when you just walk into practice. There's less space on the floor, and it just helps with everything else."
He has also taken seriously the responsibility of helping new players understand the program's standards.
"I've been here for a year; we've done it," Clemence said. "So just trying to show the new guys just what the role is and what the expectations are."
McMillan identified finishing around the rim as the area where the offseason additions have had the most tangible impact.
"Finishing around the rim — we were not good around the rim at all last year, particularly with our guards," McMillan said. "Now we can finish and attack the basket. Our guys can get to the paint."
Off the court, the team's chemistry has been a noteworthy development. McMillan described this group as distinctly different from last year's squad.
"They're that kind of team. If you go bowling, they're all going to be bowling," McMillan said. "They're not too cool for school."
Clemence confirmed it, noting the team has gone to Topgolf, eaten out together, and made a point of spending time as a group throughout the offseason. Shelley, meanwhile, said that kind of togetherness is something he actively cultivates.
"Just being able to relate to everybody," Shelley said. "I could talk to this friend group, talk to this friend group, and be able to hear people out — because I feel like that's just important as a teammate to know, like, I got this guy's back, he got my back, and we could trust each other."
As for what he wants Aggie fans to understand about him heading into the season: "I'm gonna put everything in," Shelley said. "I care about all my teammates and what we have going on. I've been at three schools, but I kind of feel like this is a situation where I'm here to stay — whether it's NBA next year or I'm gonna be right back. I don't see myself going anywhere else."
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