Meet Haylen Ayers, the No. 3 women's basketball recruit in country for 2027
Haylen Ayers has always stood out — her 6-foot frame is menacing on a basketball court. Her winning smile is a beacon to her teammates. There’s a friendly face in the University School of Jackson freshman guard.
Ayers’ basketball talent stands out, too, because she can do a lot on the floor for the Bruins. She did so in Friday’s 52-43 win over Jackson Christian, showing off why she is ranked as the No. 3 player in the country according to ESPN for the class of 2027. She did so with her 3-point shooting, mid-range shooting, driving to the basket and passing the ball to teammates. Her mid-range game is a big focus point for Ayers this season.
Even from her first days playing basketball, Ayers has always been drawn to the game. She’s constantly working on improving and is slowly learning what it takes to be a top basketball player in the country. She has around a dozen offers and has already taken visits to Louisville, LSU and Tennessee, according to 247Sports.
“It’s definitely the work outside of what everybody sees,” Ayers said. “Getting in the gym and working on game-like shots, then it just flows right into the game. It comes easy.”
She’s learned a lot from her dad and USJ coach, Joel Ayers, and quite a bit from her mom, Ashley (McElhiney) Ayers, who once starred at Gleason and went 77-0 at home in her career. Ashley Ayers was a Class A Miss Basketball winner, who led the program to a 1999 Class A state title. She's an assistant coach at USJ.
Ashley went on to score more than 1,000 points with 673 assists at Vanderbilt. She later had coaching stints at Alabama, Chattanooga and was the first woman to coach a men’s professional basketball team – the Nashville Rhythm of the American Basketball Association. And she's in the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame.
In watching her daughter play, Ashley is happy with how Haylen has grown up – immersed in the game.
“All she’s known is a gym or softball field,” Ashley said. “When the kids are little, they’re in the gym with you. You kind of push them to the side, they’re playing with Barbies or something. But Haylen was steadily absorbing basketball information. Her basic IQ of the game goes back when she was three years old.”
Already with a deep basketball background, Haylen Ayers has started receiving the training to help hone in the skills beyond the fundamentals.
Christian Simmons noticed Haylen during a 2020 Nike Elite Youth Basketball League tournament in Hoover, Alabama – one of the few events ongoing during the COVID-19 pandemic. She was in sixth grade.
Simmons has trained several professional players from the NBA to the WNBA and European players. From the second he saw Haylen Ayers; he knew he had to work with her.
“She stood out because of her frame,” Simmons said. “From there, it’s been awesome. It’s been a process, but it’s been one where she’s bought into it – she loves it. I challenge her in any way possible, and she’s going to respond.”
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Simmons knows that the great basketball players like Haylen sees the game in slow motion and make their play look so smooth. Simmons has helped Ayers work on her mid-range game for this season.
“That’s years of time invested,” Simmons said. “What everybody’s seeing is not just an overnight thing or a month or two — it’s a lot of time invested into it behind the scenes.”
Reach sports writer Austin Chastain at achastain@gannett.com and on the X platform, formerly Twitter, @chastainAJ.
This article originally appeared on Jackson Sun: Haylen Ayers developed into No. 3 women's basketball player in country for 2027
