4-star PG has Syracuse in top 7, will visit next month. 'He's a special talent,' coach says.

J'Lon "Lonnie" Lyons, the Syracuse basketball 2027 priority recruit from the talent-rich DMV, is a four-star point guard and a top-50 national prospect in the high school senior class.

While I'm not an analyst nor a scout, I've opined for a while now that the 6-foot-3 Lyons should be rated five stars and inside the top 25 overall of his cycle. His high school head coach, Devin Paige, agrees with that assessment.

"He's a special talent. A special player," Paige, who leads the Clinton Grace Christian School in Clinton, Md., told Inside the Loud House during a phone interview on Friday.

As a junior in the 2025-26 season, Lyons averaged 15.1 points, 5.5 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 2.4 steals per game for Clinton Grace (22-11 overall), and he was named to the All-Met first team and also the Gatorade player of the year in Maryland.

Lyons is the best point guard in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, Paige believes. As a senior in 2026-27, he will "running the show by himself," after his older brother, Old Dominion freshman guard CJ Lyons, and several others graduated from Clinton Grace last season.

The Eagles have a revamped roster for 2026-27 (more on that below), and J'Lon Lyons will eye leading Clinton Grace to the Maryland Private School State Basketball Tournament title after falling in the championship game last season.

The former SU staff under then-head coach Adrian Autry first offered a scholarship to Lyons last summer. First-year head coach Gerry McNamara and his staff, which also includes assistant and DMV native Arinze Onuaku, are pushing hard for Lyons, who will take an official visit to the Hill from September 11 to September 13, Inside the Loud House has confirmed.

Lyons has a top seven of the 'Cuse, Butler, Georgetown, Maryland, Tennessee, VCU and Virginia, where Autry is now an assistant coach. The talented floor general will take official visits to all his finalists before making a college decision.

In various interviews, Lyons has expressed his love for the Orange program, and he regularly speaks with the Syracuse basketball staff, including another SU assistant coach, Ryan Daly, who joined the 'Cuse this offseason from VCU.

"Syracuse has been around a lot," Paige says, noting that McNamara and Onuaku have recruited other Clinton Grace players dating back to when they were at Siena. "I love GMac and Arinze. They have a good relationship with Lonnie."

The fall recruiting period will open up next month, and look for the Orange staff to be in for Lyons during open gyms at Clinton Grace.

Syracuse basketball is prioritizing 2027 4-star PG J'Lon Lyons.

In the latest grassroots hoops season, Lyons suited up for the 17U team of the D.C.-based Team Takeover in Nike's EYBL league, an AAU program that the Orange has recruited hard over the years.

For Team Takeover, he averaged 12.9 points, 6.0 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 1.4 steals per game while connecting on 37.7 percent from the field, 27.7 percent from beyond the arc and 74.3 percent from the free-throw line. While those aren't great shooting numbers, Lyons did make 40 percent from deep as a junior in high school, Paige says.

Adam Finkelstein, the director of scouting for 247Sports and CBS Sports, wrote in an evaluation last month that Lyons needs to add strength, cut down on his turnovers and be a bit more consistent with his shooting. But Finkelstein also says that Lyons is an athletic and quick lead guard who has solid defensive instincts, rebounds well and is adept at creating for himself and others.

Paige says that, in 2026-27, his program will have a "lethal" backcourt, as Lyons will be paired with Malachi Terrell, a 6-foot-1 combo guard in the 2027 class who has transferred to Clinton Grace from Hillcrest Prep in Phoenix for his senior year.

Other members of Clinton Grace's 2026-27 roster include 2028 combo guard Luke Arulefela, 2027 center Tylor Jenkins (a 7-foot-1 prospect), 2028 combo guard Cayden Morrison, 2028 four-star power forward/center Jaylen Allen, 2028 wing Toran Ayana and 2027 guard Kuek Kuek, among others.

"I'm very excited about our roster," Paige says. "These guys have a lot to prove and have a chip on their shoulders. I think we'll be a lot better than people expect" given the roster turnover from last season.

It all starts with Lonnie Lyons, the big-time prospect who works hard, is a positive young man, "operates with humility" and brings everyone together, his head coach says.

"He has a special gift. Lonnie makes everyone around him more comfortable," Paige says, adding that whichever college team lands him, Lyons "will bring a campus and a program together. Unity."

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