With his senior year of basketball still in front of him, the Clinton County Bulldog standout point guard’s action last week guarantees him at least one thing – he can approach the upcoming 2018-19 season with just one thing on his mind – basketball.

No school visits, no listening to recruiting pitches, no weighing options every time he finishes a game and is approached by another college coach or recruiter.

Last Friday night, while attending the Summer High School State Tournament in Lexington, Harlan sat down in the lobby of the Hilton Lexington Green Hotel and made a phone call.

With his family, coaches and teammates surrounding him, many of whom were recording the moment with their cell phones, Harlan told the party on the other end of the conversation “I’m sitting here with my team and I’ve got some good news. . . I’d like to be a Hilltopper.”

Of course Harlan was speaking to Western Kentucky University Head Basketball Coach Rick Stansbury, who had just days before, watched him play in several games during the team camp at WKU.

In making his pitch to Harlan and his family and coach in urging the 6’5″ point guard to don a red and white Hilltopper uniform next season, Stansbury offered Harlan a full ride, four year scholarship.

Harlan’s verbal agreement last weekend to join the Hilltoppers for the 2019-20 season came on the heels of news that WKU has just signed one of the top ranked big men in the nation, Louisville Aspire Academy’s Charles Bassey.

Bassey will join the Hilltoppers for this upcoming season, 2018-19, while Harlan will join the team for the following season.

Harlan is the son of Sheldon and Jennifer Harlan of Albany.

Clinton County High School head basketball coach Todd Messer told the Clinton County News on Monday that having watched Harlan develop as a player for the Bulldogs, and having grown close to the young man on his team, made getting to be present for last weekend’s telephone call an experience he will always treasure.

“It was such a privilege to witness Jackson’s verbal commitment to WKU this past weekend, as it was the culmination of countless hours of hard work on his part developing his game,” Messer said Monday. “The level of aggressiveness he has shown over the past year, as it continues to grow and his body develops will make him an integral part of WKU’s re-emergence on the national scene under Coach Stansbury.”

During last week’s WKU team camp, Messer watched Stansbury’s interest in Harlan grow throughout the week, as his performances against some of the highest rated talent in Kentucky stood out more and more with every performance.

“As Coach Stansbury watched our team at WKU’s team camp, his excitement for what Jackson could bring to Western developed from really liking his game into a recruiting priority,” Messer said. “The composure Jackson displayed during the camp as he was being evaluated was extremely impressive.”

Harlan finished his junior season with Clinton County as the school’s ninth all-time leading scorer for boys’ basketball, with 1,388 points.

Last season, he averaged 26.4 points per game for Clinton County, as well as 4.1 rebounds per game.

In March, he was named to the 2018 Lexington Herald-Leader All-State boys’ basketball team as a member of the newspaper’s third teams.

During last week’s WKU camp, Messer said Harlan’s performance drew attention from coaches watching all week long, eventually becoming what the Bulldog head coach said was a level that was the talk of the camp.

“He averaged 35 plus per game during the camp including scoring 37 vs. Pendleton County and Mr. Basketball candidate and UK recruiting target Dontae Allen and 40 plus points vs. University Heights and Mr. Basketball candidate and one of the top recruits in the nation, Dekeyvan (Kyky)Tandy,” Messer said.

Messer also noted that Harlan’s achievement in earning the chance to play for the Division I school in nearby Bowling Green, would hopefully be a inspiration for other students and athletes within the Clinton County school system.

“Hopefully, Jackson’s commitment will reinforce to not only the other members of our high school basketball team but all student athletes and young kids in Clinton County, if you are willing to put in the work and listen to coaches in pursuit of a dream, great things can happen and schools will find you,” Messer said.

The Clinton County News reached out to WKU head coach Rick Stansbury for any comment he might have about his successful recruiting of Harlan, but NCAA rules prevent the Hilltopper head coach from commenting on any recruit prior to that recruit actually signing a letter of intent.