Syracuse Orange news: 4-star PG a hot commodity, draft prospects, more

One of the hottest prospects amid the current 2022-23 stanza is 2025 four-star point guard Tyler Jackson, who has been on a tear for the Saint Frances Academy in Baltimore and has reportedly received interest from Syracuse Orange basketball coaches.

The 6-foot-3 Jackson, who competes in grassroots basketball for the Baltimore-based Team Thrill in the Under Armour Association league, is seeing his list of scholarship offers and interest expand rapidly as scouts and recruiting analysts rave about his recent performances.

As we noted last September, the 247Sports Web site says that the Orange coaching staff has shown some level of interest in Jackson, but I’ve yet to see a formal scholarship offer head his way. I hope one does soon.

In the sophomore class, several recruiting services rank him as a top-50 national prospect, a top-10 point guard and the No. 1 prospect in Maryland.

North Carolina, Oregon and Marquette are displaying interest, according to media reports.

Jackson’s offer sheet includes Kansas, Maryland, Seton Hall, Rutgers, Rhode Island, Georgia Tech, Illinois, DePaul and George Mason, among others.

Over the years, the ‘Cuse has fared well recruiting out of the Baltimore and Washington, D.C., markets, and I’d love to see Syracuse Orange basketball get into the mix for Jackson.

Other Syracuse Orange news

Expert includes ‘Cuse players in NBA Draft list
On January 5, 247Sports director of scouting Adam Finkelstein, who is one of the best in the business, put out a list of current college basketball players who are on the radar of NBA front-office personnel.

Finkelstein arranged these players by the following categories: “potential lottery picks, potential-first round picks, potential second-round picks, players who might be invited to the G League Elite Camp or Portsmouth Invitational and, finally, prospects who may have NBA potential down the road but are not ready this year. We’ll call them ‘future prospects.'”

Now, all of these prognostications are subject to change, but on his list, Finkelstein did include three Syracuse Orange basketball players, and they are freshman point guard Judah Mintz, senior center Jesse Edwards, and sophomore forward Benny Williams.

The 247Sports scout puts the 6-foot-3 Mintz in the round-one category, the 6-foot-11 Edwards in the G League category, and the 6-foot-9 Willams in the future category.

As far as Mintz is concerned, he’s done a lot of impressive things so far in his freshman stint on the Hill, but I do think it’s too early to proclaim him a one-and-done player. Edwards hasn’t been great lately and needs to get going.

I love Benny Williams, but to me, he has a lot of work to do before he’s deemed a legit NBA Draft prospect.

NCAA/recruiting news

Coaches discuss rules changes on signing day, bowl eligibility
According to a recent article from ESPN’s David Hale and Adam Rittenberg, “a strong consensus of FBS coaches” are supporting rule changes that relate to an earlier signing day, extended bowl eligibility and other issues in college football.

In the ESPN piece, for one, American Football Coaches Association executive director Todd Berry said that coaches are in favor of a rule change that would enable players to compete in bowl games without affecting their ability to redshirt in a given season, even if these players have already played in four games during that particular campaign.

With the explosion of the transfer portal and NIL deals, I’d certainly be okay with this, to ensure that teams have a solid level of roster depth when participating in bowl games.