Syracuse Basketball: Analyst praises 4-star priority recruit’s explosiveness

Syracuse basketball 2023 priority recruiting target Elmarko Jackson has earned a lot of praise from numerous national analysts for his performances during two live periods in April on the AAU circuit.

With college coaches, analysts, scouts and others able to watch high-school prospects during these NCAA live periods, the four-star Jackson certainly did seem to raise his stock.

Rated as a top-80 overall player in the 2023 cycle by the majority of primary recruiting services, the 6-foot-4 point guard/shooting guard had a couple of really nice games this past weekend for WE R1 on the Under Armour Association (“UAA”) circuit in Kansas City, Mo.

The Orange coaching staff offered a scholarship to Jackson earlier this month, and he said in an interview with a national analyst a few days ago that the ‘Cuse is among the college squads recruiting him the hardest.

Let’s review some recent performances by Syracuse basketball target Elmarko Jackson.

Jackson, who had a strong junior season during the 2021-22 term for the Academy of the New Church in Bryn Athyn, Pa., registered 19 points, three rebounds, two assists and a steal in one UAA contest in Kansas City, per box scores provided on underarmournext.com.

Although he also committed six turnovers in this encounter, Jackson connected on a stellar 8-of-10 from the field and 3-of-4 from beyond the arc.

In a second affair, Jackson produced 18 points, three boards, two steals and one assist. He hit on 8-of-19 from the field, 1-of-3 from deep and 1-of-2 from the free-throw line.

While Jackson somewhat struggled shooting the ball in a third battle, he did compile six points, four rebounds and four assists.

At the conclusion of the recent live period, 247Sports national basketball director Eric Bossi tweeted out that he thought Jackson “had a tremendous weekend. When he wants to get to the rim he’s as explosive as about anybody in the class coming off a ball screen.”

When he spoke to 247Sports national analyst Dushawn London in a recent interview, Jackson said the schools presently recruiting him the hardest are the Orange, Miami, VCU, St John’s and Maryland.

In an encouraging development, Jackson is eyeing an official visit to the Hill this summer, and I’m getting the sense that he has emerged as one of the top targets for the Syracuse basketball coaching staff in the 2023 class.

Besides the ‘Cuse, his other offers include from St. John’s, Penn State, Miami, Minnesota, Maryland, VCU, Bryant, La Salle, Ole Miss, Seton Hall and California.

At the time that I penned this column, the industry-generated 247Sports Composite ranked Jackson as the No. 46 national prospect in this cycle, along with the No. 10 shooting guard and the No. 6 player in New Jersey.