Syracuse Basketball: Point-guard recruit vaults to five stars in new rankings

Syracuse basketball target Jerry Easter II has moved to five stars in a new set of 2025 national rankings from one of the primary recruiting services.

The 6-foot-6 point guard, a consensus top-45 national prospect in the rising-junior class, received a scholarship offer from the Orange coaching staff in July of 2022. Several media reports have said that he may be eyeing a visit to the Hill in the future, and the ‘Cuse getting Easter on campus would prove critical for the Orange’s chances in his soaring recruitment.

Easter, an All-American as a freshman and a sophomore at the Emmanuel Christian School in Toledo, Ohio, will spend his junior year during the 2023-24 season at the La Lumiere School in La Porte, Ind., which is a member of the loaded 10-team National Interscholastic Basketball Conference (“NIBC”).

When ESPN recently published its latest national rankings of the top-60 players in the 2025 class, Easter arrived as five stars, No. 21 overall, No. 5 at point guard and No. 2 in Indiana.

I envision Syracuse basketball 2025 recruit Jerry Easter II jumping to five stars elsewhere, too.

Rivals.com, in its latest 2025 national ratings, put Easter at No. 23 overall. Via 247Sports, he is No. 41 nationwide. On3, meanwhile, rates Easter as No. 30 across the country. All of these other recruiting services rank him as four stars.

At the time of this writing, the industry-generated 247Sports Composite placed Easter at No. 26 overall, No. 4 at shooting guard and No. 2 in Indiana.

The industry-generated On3 Industry Ranking, meanwhile, had him at No. 23 nationally, No. 6 at point guard and No. 2 in Indiana.

On June 15, college coaches could start initiating direct communication with 2025 prospects. Reports around that time noted that numerous schools reached out to Easter, including Kansas, Kentucky, UCLA, Alabama, Michigan State and many others.

Some of his newer offers have come from Providence, Florida State, Tennessee and Temple. His offer sheet also includes Texas A&M, St. John’s, Illinois, Southern California, Louisville, Memphis, Michigan State, Ohio State, Mississippi State, Mike Hopkins-led Washington, UCLA, Cincinnati, Vanderbilt, South Carolina, Arizona State and Missouri, among others.

This spring, Easter played up a division for the 17U squad of the Columbus, Ohio-based All Ohio Red in Nike’s EYBL league. During the EYBL’s regular season, Easter was a top-20 scorer within the 17U division, as he averaged 17.4 points, 4.9 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game.

For his performances this spring, The Circuit named him to its All-Event third team during the EYBL’s regular season.

Reports have stated that Easter’s dad is close friends with Syracuse basketball legend Derrick Coleman. Easter himself is good friends with 2025 four-star shooting guard Kiyan Anthony from New York City, a priority target for the Orange coaching staff in this class.

In an article by Rivals.com analyst Jason Jordan last month, he wrote that Easter “plans to take officials to Ohio State, Kentucky, Michigan State and Louisville in the coming weeks and months.”

Let’s see if Syracuse basketball coaches can arrange a trip for Easter to officially visit the ‘Cuse at some point.