As Carolina continues to seek players to add to the roster for next season through the transfer portal, they are also waiting to find out if Ian Jackson is going to reclassify and join the program this summer as opposed to next year. That decision will likely come after he visits Chapel Hill in the coming days, with his school Cardinal Hayes out on spring break. There has been a lot of moving parts around Ian Jackson recently, as once St. John’s hired legendary head coach, Rick Pitino, there was a belief that Jackson would back out of his commitment to North Carolina, to play for the established Hall of Fame head coach, and stay home in the process. Well Jackson in an interview with 247Sports, expressed his commitment to Hubert Davis, and UNC, denying the rumors that he was going to decommit from the Tar Heels.
Jackson is the No. 3 overall player in the 2024 recruiting cycle according to 247Sports Composite and is ranked as the No. 2 shooting guard in the class as well. Hubert Davis is tasked with rebuilding his roster after he lost his entire wing position group to the transfer portal. Carolina has already landed Paxson Wojcik from Brown in the transfer portal, but they need more. UNC has hosted Towson transfer Nick Timberlake on a visit as well, but he’s yet to decide on his basketball future. Northern Colorado transfer, Dalton Knecht is also in play for UNC, but he’s yet to visit Chapel Hill.
If you remember back to last summer, Carolina had landed Gregory “GG” Jackson, who was on his way to becoming the No. 1 player in the 2024 class, but Jackson wished to reclassify, and with Carolina’s roster not set up for that, he decommitted and stayed close to home to play for South Carolina. Carolina is much more desperate right now, and even if Jackson doesn’t reclassify, the chances of him decommiting aren’t very high.
Jackson might not be the only commit in the 2024 recruiting class to reclassify this summer, as there is steam for Elliot Cadeau to also enroll early at UNC. That decision may hinge on what Jackson decides to do. While the obvious need on the current Carolina roster is the wing position, UNC shouldn’t shy away from adding two of the top prospects to their roster a year early, and Hubert could add wing transfers accordingly. If one or both were to enroll early, it would still fulfill Hubert Davis’s vision to play with three guards on the floor, along with one wing, and one big. Also if Jackson were to reclassify, it would open up a spot for UNC to use in the 2024 class, which isn’t a bad thing as they are still very interested in multiple highly-ranked prospects, as the roster rebuild continues.
The Four Corners Podcast:
Commentaires