Former Texas player Jaylen Bond transfers to Temple

Former Philadelphia high school basketball star Jaylen Bond is transferring to Temple.

The former Texas forward informed the Owls on Friday. He ultimately chose Temple over Penn State.

Bond informed Longhorns coach Rick Barnes of his decision to leave Texas in March and was granted his release.

According to NCAA rules, the 6-foot-7, 225-pounder will have to sit out next season before having two seasons of eligibility with the Owls. He will, however, be allowed to practice with Temple next season. He averaged 2.8 points, 3.2 rebounds and 11 minutes a game this past season.

As a high school senior at Plymouth Whitemarsh in 2011, Bond backed out of his scholarship to Pittsburgh and flirted with spending the following year at St. Thomas More, a prep school in Connecticut.

However, he opted to play at Texas while on a recruiting trip to Austin on Aug. 11, 2011.  At the time, Bond had scholarship offers from Temple, St. Joseph's, Penn State and Tennessee for the Class of 2012, assuming he spent a season in prep school.

Freakishly athletic, he was a highlight reel in action in high school. He averaged 19 points, 11.2 rebounds, 2.5 steals and 2 assists as a senior. Bond's 1,608 career points rank second on Plymouth Whitemarsh's all-time list behind 2005 graduate Thomas Young's 1,641.