Syracuse Basketball: 5-star, top-10 Jarace Walker setting up official visits

Jarace Walker, a 2022 five-star forward who received a scholarship offer from Syracuse basketball in June of last year, is scheduling official campus visits now that they are permitted by NCAA officials.

The 6-foot-8 Walker, a junior at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., has three official visits slated for June, according to a tweet from recruiting analyst Jacob Polacheck.

Walker was to visit Auburn on June 5-7, Ohio State on June 16-18 and Houston on June 22-24, per Polacheck’s tweet. Some analysts and recruiting insiders have said of late that Walker’s recruitment is a bit tough to gauge, although these visits, and future ones, could help illuminate which college teams may prove in the strongest position for the top-10 prospect nationally in the 2022 cycle.

As we detailed in a recent column, Walker has said that the five groups recruiting him the hardest are North Carolina, Auburn, Florida State, Houston and Maryland, according to a tweet from Tipton Edits.

Additionally, under Walker’s bio on the 247Sports Web site, the schools listed with “warm” interest level are Auburn, Houston, Ohio State, Florida State, Maryland and Michigan.

Syracuse basketball likely isn’t going to land 2022 top-10 Jarace Walker.

Walker hasn’t come out with any sort of list of finalists at this juncture, and the recruiting world can be a fickle business. So at least for now, I guess you could say that the Orange still has some sort of shot at landing him, albeit a small one at best.

Currently, there are no crystal-ball predictions for Walker on the 247Sports Web site. There is one projection for him to the Tar Heels on Rivals.com, but that came back in January, and UNC has undergone a head-coaching change.

Walker and Syracuse basketball 2021 five-star commit Benny Williams have both attended the IMG Academy, so I had hoped that this connection may improve the Orange’s chances to secure Walker’s services.

The ‘Cuse 2022 class could end up as a big-time cycle for Syracuse basketball, and Walker would be a game-changer. He is the No. 1 power forward and the No. 2 prospect in Florida within the 2022 class, according to the 247Sports Composite and 247Sports.