Kernersville (N.C.) Bishop McGuinness senior standout Adelaide Jernigan verbally committed to NC State on Oct. 6, culminating three years of the Wolfpack recruiting her.
Bishop McGuinness coach Brian Robinson was along for the recruiting ride, and also founded the Winston-Salem Stealers traveling team program in 1996, which Jernigan plays for. He has seen hundreds of his players get recruited.
Jernigan made sure to officially visit NC State, Michigan and Kentucky, and unofficially visited the Wolfpack several times, along with the Wolverines. She knew new UK coach Kenny Brooks from his time at Virginia Tech, but wasn’t as familiar with the Wildcats program.
ESPN.com’s HoopGurlz ranks her No. 64 overall in the country in the class of 2025. NC State coach Wes Moore was the first high major program to offer her Sept. 18, 2022.
“It was very refreshing in a way,” Robinson said. “We've had a lot of kids, both high school and club, play at various levels in college. She was very patient through the process, which was great. She was more thorough than I've seen her with anything she's done on or off the court.
“When she finally told me that she was going to commit, I haven't seen her that happy. She was extremely happy.”
Robinson has won 11 NCHSAA 1A state titles since taking over Bishop McGuinness in 2002, including a nine-year stretch, which ended in 2015. Jernigan and the Villains captured the state titles in 2022 and 2023 at Reynolds Coliseum, but shockingly lost to Cherokee (N.C.) High in the state semifinals March 8, 2024.
Jernigan has worked hard to be ready to go when she arrives at NC State.
“Just how much muscle she's put on over the last, you know, 8-to-10 months, that's something Coach Moore has made comments to me about,” Robinson said. “She looks like she has a college basketball body already.
“With that, it's increased her range. She's now two, three, four feet behind the three-point line shooting the ball at ease. Obviously, that stretches the defense out and helps us out at our level.”
Robinson has also knows NCSU coach Wes Moore for years, which helped in the process with Jernigan.
“In 2013, when he was hired, he offered me a job at NC State,” Robinson said. “I really enjoyed the high school life and what I'm doing with young people. I turned it down, but I've known him over the years. He has done wonders with that program.
“To see him continue to build upon not only the success of Coach [Kay] Yow, but everything he's done over the last three-to-five years with the ACC Championships, the Elite Eights, the Final Four, is pretty incredible.”
Jernigan is the first Bishop McGuinness player that has picked NC State, and the second from the Stealers traveling program, following Elle Sutphin, who attended NCSU from 2019-21, before transferring to Davidson, where she finished her college career, averaging 14.5 points and 5.8 rebounds a contest in three years for the Wildcats.
Last year proved bumpy in general due to starting the season with an early-season injury. She got hurt Dec. 20, and missed six games before returning Jan. 12. Jernigan scored 28 points in the loss to Cherokee, but has used the game for offseason motivation.
“Not that she wasn’t dedicated before, but she's been, she has a different focus this year,” Robinson said. “She has really worked on her physical side of things, her mental side as well and she wants to be in a position to try to help us get back on top again.
“It's not going to be easy, it never is, but she's dedicated herself to do whatever she can to help us try to get back on top again.”
Another aspect that will help Jernigan for the college level is that Robinson’s squad are relentless every foot of the court, playing pressure defense and running whenever it can. Robinson said that is due to not typically having tall players for the halfcourt game.
“What we do is we try to run a certain system that, allows for the kids to use their intelligence,” Robinson said. “They're very smart. The more I can teach, the faster they can play. The faster they can play, the more it slows down for everyone on the court.
“That can only benefit Adelaide in college because we've played that speed for her the entire time.”
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