No. 1 basketball recruit Josh Jackson picks Kansas over MSU, Arizona – Detroit Free Press
Jackson is considered the No. 1 prospect for the 2017 NBA draft
Josh Jackson won’t be coming home.
The Detroit native and one of the best high school seniors in the nation announced Monday night via Twitter that he will continue his basketball career at Kansas, choosing the Jayhawks over Michigan State and Arizona.
Jackson, a 6-foot-7, 195-pound swingman and McDonald’s All-American, can sign his letter of intent this week. The late signing period begins Wednesday and runs through May 18.
Jackson already is considered the No. 1 prospect for the 2017 NBA draft.
A five-star recruit, Jackson is ranked the No. 1 recruit in the 2016 class by Rivals.com, No. 2 by Scout.com and No. 3 by ESPN.com. The 19-year-old averaged averaged 26.9 points, 13.1 rebounds and 6.3 assists per game this winter for Prolific Prep in Napa, California. Jackson was the co-MVP of the McDonald’s All-American Game last month in Chicago and played in the Nike Hoops Summit for Team USA on Saturday in Portland, Oregon.
MSU’s 2016 class already has four signees, all of whom are ranked in ESPN’s top 40: Swingman Miles Bridges (ranked No. 6 overall), shooting guard Josh Langford (No. 14) from Alabama, point guard Cassius Winston (No. 30) and forward Nick Ward (No. 39) from Ohio.
Flint native Bridges and Detroit native Winston are close friends of Jackson’s and attempted to get him to join them as Spartans during his official visit to Breslin Center on March 5 for MSU’s senior day game against Ohio State.
Jackson attended Detroit Consortium High for his first two high school seasons and led it to a Class C state title in 2014 before going the prep school route.
For months, Jackson was considered a strong MSU lean — before Bridges, Langford, Winston and Ward signed with MSU, the five of them came up with T-shirts predicting a dream class, and Jackson’s name was on them.
But then came rumors that people in his camp disagreed with his choice of MSU, and rumors in March that he was on the verge of committing to Kansas. Jackson did confirm the idea of a disagreement over his choice, telling the Free Press last month: “There was a little bit of truth to that.”
Here’s a Free Press Q&A with Jackson from late March:
Top-ranked basketball recruit Josh Jackson speaks with the Detroit Free Press about Michigan State, his decision timeline and more Tuesday, March 29, 2016. Video by Joe Rexrode / DFP
More Josh Jackson coverage
• Michigan State commits worked on Jackson at McDonald’s game
• Jackson says he ‘loves’ Michigan State
• Jackson doesn’t want college coach to ‘kiss my butt’
• Jackson’s mom wants to alter high-level recruiting
Joe Rexrode contributed.
