Top-40 2026 prospect Junior County planning a few summer visits
By SAM LANCE
Class of 2026 prospect Junior County is planning visits this summer to Houston, Maryland and Stanford, he told ZAGSBLOG.
County — the 6-foot-4, 180-pound guard out of Wasatch Academy (UT) and the Utah Prospects Nike EYBL AAU program — had a productive junior season for the Tigers. At Chipotle Nationals in early April, County posted averages of 10.5 points, 8.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists. Wasatch, the No. 9 seed, ultimately fell to the tournament champions Columbus in the quarterfinals.
“I learned a lot, especially being under coach [Paul] Peterson,” County said of his junior year. “We went through a lot of adversity throughout the season. And it just taught the whole team a lot, taught me a lot, just how to always play together and always make the right play no matter what it is. Just be unselfish and defense will get you really far.”
County describes himself as somebody who plays both sides of the ball. He can really shoot it from 3-point range and has a nice pull-up game. But defense is his calling card right now.
“My best trait is probably just how hard I play on both sides of the ball,’ County said. “What I’m really trying to improve on right now is just not being indecisive and just making reads off ball screens.”
A handful of programs have offered County including Arizona State, BYU, Cal, Houston, Stanford, TCU, UCSB, Utah, Utah State, Washington and Washington State. Some have shown more interest by going out to Wasatch to see him during his junior year. Assistants from BYU, Houston, Utah, Michigan State and the old staff at Texas A&M (now Maryland) were in attendance at some point during the high school season, as well as Purdue head coach Matt Painter.
County has taken official visits to Purdue and Texas A&M so far in the process along with an unofficial to Houston. Here’s his breakdown of some of the schools mainly in contact:
BYU: “I talk to coach Kevin Young a lot. He texts me pretty frequently. I’ve gotten to know him and the staff up there. And with the school being right around the corner, I’ve been able to go to quite a few games and just experience the crowd and the environment.”
Houston: “I talk with coach K.C. Beard a lot over at Houston. Even though it was an unoffiical, I still feel like I experienced a lot over at Houston. I got to see their first game against Texas A&M, so it was just a great experience.”
Purdue: “I talk to coach P.J. [Thompson] a lot and I’ve gotten to really connect with them and their program. Just the way they play. I really liked their campus when I was down there and the environment was great.”
Stanford: “I talk to the head coach and coach Derrick Wrobel quite often. I like their location and their style of play. The coaching staff over there are all great people too.”
Texas A&M/Maryland: “Coach Lyle Wolf went with Buzz [Williams] over to Maryland. I was in contact with him a lot and my official visit there was also amazing. Me and my family got to talk to coach Buzz, and he’s just a great person and a great coach to talk to. [He told me] just to keep working and keep doing me because all of the work I put in it will show itself when the time comes.”
Utah: “It was coach David Evans and the head coach, coach [Craig] Smith, who’s not over there anymore. Now it’s coach [Alex] Jensen and coach Raphael Chillious. I got to talk to them. I still have to go up there and just get a feel for the new staff and see what things are going to change.”
County doesn’t have any dates yet for visits this summer, but he knows Houston, Maryland and Stanford are three he’ll take. When he goes on these visits, what does he want to see?
“I just want whatever school I go to to just not fake anything and be real with me,” County said. “I think that will make me feel the most at one with the school because then I know straight up what I have to do and what to be expecting. Not getting fake or false promises.”
This summer will be a little different for County playing with the Utah Prospects. The program has made the switch from the Adidas 3SSB circuit to Nike EYBL. County is ready to play in a new environment.
“I’ve heard a lot about EYBL, so I’m just excited to see what it’s about and just go out and play and compete against the best teams,” County said.
There’s quite a bit of athletic history in the County family. His father, Adolph County, played defensive back at Utah, while his brother, Terrell Young, played basketball at Utah State. County also has two sisters who play tennis, with his older sister Annaliese County formerly playing at Utah State.
County is ranked the No. 37 overall prospect in the 2026 class by 247Sports.
“Junior can do everything,” Peterson told ZAGSBLOG. “We felt how great Junior was when we was out with mono. We recognized fast he means a lot to this team. He’s a worker.”
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