Syracuse Basketball: 5-star point-guard recruit erupts for 44 points in AAU

Syracuse basketball 2025 target Jerry Easter II recently moved to five stars according to ESPN, and he sure has played like a five-star prospect on the AAU circuit this spring and summer.

The 6-foot-6 point guard, a consensus top-45 national prospect in the rising-junior class, has been playing 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 named to The Circuit’s All-Event third team, as he averaged 17.4 points, 4.9 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game.

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By extension, in recent days, as the EYBL wrapped up its annual Peach Jam tournament, Easter proved one of the event’s top scorers, and he even dropped a ridiculous 44 points in one encounter.

Syracuse basketball 2025 five-star recruit Jerry Easter II is a prolific scorer in his cycle.

From July 3 to July 9, the 2023 Peach Jam transpired at the Riverview Park Activities Center in North Augusta, S.C. All Ohio Red participated in the Peach Invitational Tournament (“PIT”), going 4-4 overall.

Per the EYBL Web site, in those eight contests, Easter averaged 28.6 minutes, 22.3 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game. He connected on 44.9 percent from the field, 27.8 percent from 3-point land and 63.2 percent from the free-throw line.

Easter hit on double figures in every single affair. He notched 28 points on two separate occasions. And in his final PIT game for All Ohio Red, Easter caught absolute fire, producing 44 points (#CuseOnBrand) along with four rebounds, three assists and four steals in 29 minutes.

In that game, he was 19-of-27 from the field, 1-of-2 from beyond the arc and 5-of-7 from the charity stripe.

The Orange coaching staff got involved in Easter’s recruitment early on, offering him a scholarship in July of 2022. His offer sheet also includes Providence, Florida State, Tennessee, Temple, 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.

Additional big-time programs reportedly showing interest in Easter include 2022 national champion Kansas, Kentucky and Alabama, among others.

Several reports in recent months have stated that Easter is high on Syracuse basketball, and he may take a visit to the Hill at some point, although nothing has been scheduled at this juncture.

As both a freshman and a sophomore, Easter earned All-America honors as a standout for the Emmanuel Christian School in Toledo, Ohio. He will spend his junior year during the 2023-24 campaign 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 updated its national rankings of the top-60 prospects in the 2025 class, Easter checked in as five stars, No. 21 overall, No. 5 at point guard and No. 2 in Indiana.

Both of the industry-generated rating systems, the 247Sports Composite and the On3 Industry Ranking, currently place him as the No. 25 national prospect in the rising-junior cycle.