Syracuse Basketball: In new rankings, PG recruits drop down to four stars

Tyler Jackson and Jerry Easter II are two of the top point guards in the 2025 class, and each holds a scholarship offer from Syracuse basketball.

In recently updated national rankings from ESPN of the top-60 prospects in the junior recruiting cycle, both the 6-foot-3 Jackson and the 6-foot-3 Easter fell a little bit, as they both were previously five stars according to this recruiting service.

Now, ESPN has them each as a high four-star player. Just to be clear, this isn’t a big deal at all. Jackson is a consensus top-25 national prospect in the 2025 class, while Easter is a consensus top-45 overall player in this cycle.

Plus, these sorts of rankings are somewhat subjective and will vary from recruiting Web site to recruiting Web site. In any event, I did happen to notice the small drop of Jackson and Easter, per ESPN, but I’m not in any way implying that either young man isn’t an ultra-talented point guard.

Let’s see where two PGs with Syracuse basketball offers are currently rated.

In ESPN’s top 60 for the 2025 class, Jackson is No. 17 overall and No. 4 at point guard. The prospect one spot higher than him is five stars, by the way. Earlier this year, ESPN had Jackson as five stars, No. 9 nationally and No. 1 at point guard in the 2025 cycle.

Jackson, who is from Baltimore, picked up a scholarship offer from the Orange in late April. He is a 2025 prospect to watch as far as potentially taking an official visit to the Hill in the future, national recruiting analysts have told me.

Not too long ago, Jackson signed on with the Atlanta-based professional league Overtime Elite for his junior year, after previously suiting up at the Saint Frances Academy in Baltimore. In grassroots basketball, this past July, he helped lead the Baltimore-based Team Thrill to the 16U championship in the Under Armour Association league (“UAA”).

Besides the ‘Cuse, Jackson’s offer sheet includes schools such as LSU, Old Dominion, Pittsburgh, Virginia Tech, California, Kansas, Alabama, Maryland, Illinois, Rutgers, Seton Hall, DePaul, George Mason, Georgia Tech, Rhode Island, Houston, Penn State and UCF, among others.

Some context is important. When I penned this column, the industry-generated 247Sports Composite had Jackson as five stars, No. 9 overall and No. 1 at point guard in the 2025 class. Rivals.com also rated him as five stars.

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

Offered a scholarship by the Orange in July of 2022, Easter at present is ranked by ESPN as four stars, No. 24 nationally and No. 8 at point guard in the 2025 cycle. When I wrote about him in early July, ESPN placed Easter as five stars, No. 21 overall and No. 5 at point guard in this class.

This spring and summer, while playing up a division for the 17U team of the Columbus, Ohio-based All Ohio Red in Nike’s EYBL league, Easter earned high praise from national analysts and scouts. He proved one of the EYBL’s top scorers in the most recent AAU season.

Easter, throughout his recruiting process, has amassed more than 30 offers. College squads that have offered him include Georgia Tech, LSU, Arkansas, Ole Miss, Providence, Florida State, 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.

Beyond ESPN, Easter is No. 23 per the 247Sports Composite and also No. 21 according to Rivals.com. If he shines at La Lumiere, I could envision Easter moving back up to five stars. The same goes for Jackson at Overtime Elite.

In the past, Easter has said he was eyeing a possible visit to Syracuse basketball at some point. For what it’s worth, in late July, he discussed potential visit destinations in an interview with On3 national analyst Jamie Shaw, and I didn’t see a mention of the ‘Cuse there.

The Orange has offered several other 2025 point guards, including four-star Nigel James and three-star Keyshuan Tillery. James plans to officially visit the ‘Cuse on September 15, and Tillery said in a recent interview that he, too, wants to visit Syracuse basketball in the future.