Syracuse basketball 4-star priority recruit heads to prep power with SU ties

Syracuse basketball 2023 priority recruiting target Elmarko Jackson will spend his senior year at a well-known prep school in Connecticut, he recently said on Twitter.

The 6-foot-4 Jackson, a four-star guard in the 2023 class who was offered a scholarship by the Orange coaching staff in mid-April, will suit up in the 2022-23 stanza for the South Kent School in South Kent, Conn.

In the 2021-22 campaign, Jackson was a star for the Academy of the New Church in Bryn Athyn, Pa. In his junior term there, he averaged 17.9 points, 5.4 assists, 5.7 rebounds, 2.0 steals and 1.0 blocks per encounter, according to MaxPreps.

Not too long ago, in his debut for the South Kent School at a New England Preparatory School Athletic Council showcase event in Hamden, Conn., Jackson performed quite well against the Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, N.H., per an article from 247Sports director of scouting Adam Finkelstein.

Among the college coaches in attendance for this prep-school battle was Syracuse basketball boss Jim Boeheim, according to Finkelstein. In a separate piece, the 247Sports analyst said that Jackson was a stand-out at the Under Armour Future 60 camp in Bradenton, Fla.

Syracuse basketball high-priority recruit Elmarko Jackson is seeing his offer sheet grow.

As Jackson has shined on the AAU circuit this spring for WE R1 in the Under Armour Association league, his list of high-major suitors has intensified.

College squads that have offered him, besides the ‘Cuse, include Notre Dame, Kansas State, St. John’s, Penn State, Miami, Minnesota, Maryland, VCU, Bryant, La Salle, Ole Miss, Seton Hall and California.

However, just since mid-June, Jackson has received offers from teams such as Virginia, LSU, Oklahoma, Tennessee, DePaul, Pittsburgh, Nebraska and Rutgers.

He has said in a couple of interviews lately that he is eyeing a potential official visit to the Hill in the future, so we’ll continue to monitor that.

Regarding his transfer to the South Kent School, several years ago, former Syracuse basketball players Elijah Hughes and Matthew Moyer also went there.

More recently, among those on the South Kent School roster have been 2023 four-star wing/power forward Tafara Gapare and 2023 four-star power forward/center Papa Kante.

The Orange coaching staff offered the 6-foot-10 Gapare this past April, but he has committed to DePaul. The ‘Cuse offered the 6-foot-10 Kante last summer, but I don’t get the sense Syracuse basketball is a significant contender for him at this juncture.

Jackson, listed as either a point guard, a combo guard or a shooting guard by recruiting services, is ranked as high as No. 61 nationally by On3, as well as the No. 10 point guard in this cycle.

Both of the industry-generated recruiting services, the 247Sports Composite and the On3 Consensus, rated Jackson as a top-100 overall prospect in the 2023 class at the time of this writing.