Family is important to VCU guard Brandon Jennings.

This summer, about 50 members of his family spent a week together at a resort in Jamaica, celebrating his aunt’s wedding.

“We took over the whole resort,” Jennings said with a laugh.

Having those close to him close to him is part of the reason Jennings opted to play his college basketball at VCU after starring at St. Christopher’s, and it’s a big part of why he chose to stick with the Rams after this offseason’s coaching change.

“Just being able to have the support from my friends and my family, my St. Chris community. Everybody’s local,” Jennings said. “To be able to get the love and support staying at home playing basketball at the collegiate level is a great experience. And it’s unlike any other.

“I can have 15 to 20 family members at every game. I know that’s rare.”

Jennings will be the only 804 native on the Rams’ roster in 2025-26. Fats Billups (Varina) transferred to Longwood and Joe Bamisile (Monacan) expended his collegiate eligibility.

But new coach Phil Martelli Jr. hopes that will change going forward. He said recruiting the Commonwealth and the city will be a high priority for his staff.

“We’re going to make that our home base and try to hammer that hard,” Martelli said. “And then fill in the gaps where we need to elsewhere.”

Martelli said Virginia offers VCU a strong recruiting base and that VCU offers in-state athletes a great opportunity to build their brand on their home turf.

“We have high-level high school basketball, AAU basketball in Virginia and specifically in the Richmond area,” Martelli said. “So, that’s important. It’s important that those kids want to play and want to stay home. I think the chance to do some special things in your backyard and at a place like VCU, you can do all the things you can do at fill-in-the-blank blueblood school – you have the opportunity to do at VCU.”

Martelli said he hopes future Richmond-area recruits see the same benefits that mean so much to Jennings.

“Your friends and family can be there every step of the way,” Martelli said. “Not just following you on social media. But actually be in the arena with you, be in those moments directly there with you is a special thing.”

Jennings had options after Ryan Odom left VCU for Virginia following the Rams’ NCAA Tournament loss to BYU. Jennings could have followed Odom to UVA or headed north to Boston College, where Eagles coach Earl Grant was interested in adding him.

Instead, he decided to stay in Richmond and stay “loyal to the soil,” as he wrote in a social media post announcing his decision.

In the week between Odom’s departure and Martelli’s hiring, Jennings was in a state of college basketball limbo. But meetings with VCU athletic director Ed McLaughlin and academic advisor Dr. Sofia Hiort-Wright helped him decide to give the Rams new coach – whoever it might be – a chance.

“They all played a big role in helping me realize, this is home,” Jennings said. “They were just reminding me to stay patient. Don’t listen to the outside noise. Just know that this place loves me and there’s a big opportunity for me to step up.”

He had dinner with Martelli shortly after Martelli was hired, then visited UVA to hear Odom’s pitch. Odom brought his VCU staff with him to Charlottesville, something that appealed to Jennings.

But Martelli had Richmond in mind as he built his staff at VCU, too. He hired Brandon Rozzell, a Highland Springs native who played on the Rams’ 2011 Final Four team, as an assistant coach, and promoted Bradford Burgess, a Midlothian native and another former VCU player, to director of recruiting. Burgess had been the director of student-athlete development under Odom.

“Those guys having the connections they have, the visibility they have in the area, having the people that know them and respect them, is huge,” Martelli said. “It just helps open up those lines of communication. It makes that relationship building even easier.”

Of course, even Jennings admits he didn’t grow up dreaming of playing at VCU. Duke was his childhood favorite team.

How can the Rams, who have won their third A-10 championship in the last decade in March, elevate their program to make it the first choice for the 804 prospects?

“Hang more banners,” Jennings said.