Jamal Lewis is first 2012 hoops commit

As Penn's 2011 recruits are starting to trickle onto campus over the summer months, it appears the first recruit for next year's class has already enlisted.

Jamal Lewis, a shooting guard out of Sidwell Friends (Washington, D.C.), committed to Penn last night, says Scout's Evan Daniels, who got a text from Lewis this morning.

Then there's this tweet from Penn Basketball's twitter feed around 10 a.m. this morning, which also seems to imply some good news for the Quakers:

That's a lot of .........s ...

Lewis isn't big, weighing in at 6-foot, 165 lbs. Nonetheless, he's rated an 85 by ESPN, 68th at his position. Both Scout and ESPN list him as a two-star recruit, and both already list his verbal commitment. ESPN describes him as:

An athletic, scoring combo guard. He is a playmaker that can create for himself and others. He shoots a variety of shots and can run them off when he catches hot. He played more off guard in this event but showcased his point guard skills with his ability to play off a ball screen and set up his teammate for a bucket in transition or spotting up. Jamal slashes to the basket and adjusts well off of contact to complete the play....At times he can get sped up or hold the ball to long that leads him into turnovers.

If the name sounds familiar to you, it's not because of the Baltimore Ravens/Cleveland Browns running back and Pro-bowl player. We actually reported back in January that Jerome Allen was spotted at a Sidwell game Scouting Lewis. From a Buzz post on Jan. 4:

A good friend from Penn tells me he saw coach Jerome Allen and spoke to him Tuesday night at a Sidwell Friends High School basketball game in Washington, D.C., scouting Sidwell point guard Jamal Lewis (not the Jamal Lewis).... This is interesting because a) Sidwell Friends' mascot is the Fighting Quakers, b) Jet-setting Jerome must have hopped straight on a train to DC after arriving in Philly, and c) Sidwell Friends is famous for being the school where the Obama children go, as well as where Chelsea Clinton attended.

Some more links on Lewis:

Here's a 2010 (his soph. year) game story that focuses largely on him from Washington Post's All-Met sports section. There's a good video in there of Jamal, his coach, and teammate talking about his game. Notably, the article said he was drawing interest from high-majors like Syracuse and Wake Forest back then.

Here's a collection of short highlight videos.

Here are his stats from his Junior year.

And Here, best of all, is a "Player Diary" from a website called i95Ballerz.com, in which Lewis describes himself, his game, his recruiting (including a laundry list of schools looking at him), and even mundane stuff like his winter exams. As Lewis writes, "It's good to end on a high note." (Here is pt. 2 and Here is pt. 3) And Here is an update from i95Ballerz with quotes from Lewis and his coach.