Syracuse basketball 5-star target will play for IMG this season. 'Electric-scoring talent.'

The powerhouse IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., is expected to contend for a high school national championship in the upcoming 2026-27 season, analysts and prep coaches tell Inside the Loud House.

The Ascenders have a new head coach in Jackson Johnson, who last season guided The Newman School in Boston to that program's first-ever national prep title. Johnson, in a recent interview with Inside the Loud House, sounded highly upbeat about his 2026-27 roster at IMG, which was previously in the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League Scholastic ("EYBL Scholastic") but is currently not affiliated with a particular prep hoops conference (IMG is a partner with Under Armour).

One member of the Ascenders' roster whom Johnson is raving about is 2028 five-star wing/small forward Will Brunson, who, earlier this summer, transferred to IMG from the Rutgers Preparatory School in Somerset, N.J., where he was an All-American as a sophomore.

The 6-foot-6, 185-pound Brunson, who has a 6-foot-11 wingspan according to his new head coach, was first offered a scholarship by Syracuse basketball under then-head coach Adrian Autry in June 2025.

Brunson took an unofficial visit to the Orange last December, Inside the Loud House has reported, and the new 'Cuse staff under first-year head coach Gerry McNamara has also re-offered him. To date, Brunson is one of more than a dozen 2028 prospects who have landed an offer from Syracuse basketball coaches.

"He's great. An electric-scoring talent," Johnson says of Brunson, adding that he's a "ferocious worker" who is expected to play at IMG for his final two seasons at the prep level. "I can’t wait," Johnson says.

Syracuse basketball will likely visit IMG for an open gym this fall.

Besides the Orange, Brunson's full scholarship offer sheet includes schools such as Auburn, Fairfield, Rider, Rutgers, La Salle, Seton Hall, Mississippi State, TCU, Oklahoma State, Notre Dame, N.C. State, Villanova, Ole Miss, Louisville, Providence, Kansas, Indiana and Georgia Tech.

As a sophomore in 2025-26 for Rutgers Prep, Brunson was terrific. He averaged 22.1 points, 8.4 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game, while being named to the MaxPreps sophomore All-America second team.

This spring and summer in grassroots hoops, Brunson played up a division for the 17U team of the New York City-based Renaissance Hoops in Nike's EYBL league. Last month, at the EYBL's season-ending Peach Jam in North Augusta, S.C., the NY Rens made it to the Elite Eight.

Johnson noted that while playing up a division, Brunson took on a smaller role and was up to the challenge, even if his production was less than if he had played in the 16U division in the latest AAU season.

"He wants freaking hard coaching ... he doesn't really have a ceiling," Johnson said. Brunson, for the 17U NY Rens, averaged 7.2 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game while connecting on 40.4 percent from the field, 27.1 percent from beyond the arc and 75.0 percent from the free-throw line, per the EYBL's Web site.

Within the 2028 class, Brunson is ranked as high as No. 19 nationally via 247Sports. Both the industry-generated 247Sports Composite and the industry-generated Rivals Industry Ranking place him inside the top 30 of his cycle.

In recent years, several players who competed at IMG, whether for the national team or the post-grad squad, went on to play for Syracuse, including current sophomore forward Sadiq White Jr., Donnie Freeman, Benny Williams, Jesse Edwards, Justin Taylor and Quadir Copeland.

Dating back to when McNamara and several of his SU assistants were at Siena, and Johnson was guiding Newman, Johnson says that he became close with McNamara. He also talks regularly with former Siena assistant Ben Lee, who now holds a similar role with the Orange.

It remains to be seen what IMG players, beyond Brunson, will be recruited by the Syracuse basketball staff, although Johnson says he anticipates that McNamara and his assistants will be on hand for an open gym held by the Ascenders once the fall recruiting period opens up next month.

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