North Augusta, S.C. — A week after backing off his commitment to North Carolina, G.G. Jackson hasn’t been silent on the radio about his next moves this week at the Nike Peach Jam.
Still, the deafening buzz among college coaches at the Riverview Park Activities Center is that Jackson is a “done deal” for South Carolina.
“Telling him he’s going is a foregone conclusion,” says an SEC assistant coach on condition of anonymity. “It’s like the worst summer secret.”
Jackson is also expected to reclassify from 2023 to 2022, and be ready to serve the Gamecocks this fall.
The reason for Jackson’s move was to speed up his entry into the NBA. That sealed North Carolina’s fate after that since Hubert Davis gave up his last scholarship for 2022 to transfer Pete Nance. South Carolina has two open scholarships, and the Gamecocks were widely considered the second running back when the 6’8” forward chose the Tar Heels in April.
Jackson has always been conflicted about the possibility of reclassifying to 2022 but told SI in February that he intends to stay in 2023 to “achieve some of my senior year goals.” Still, as the realization grew that he could quickly achieve his NBA dreams in a year, Jackson, who will be 19 in December, began to change course.
If Jackson does indeed decide to stay home, he would give new head coach Lamont Paris the highest-rated recruit in program history, and his best chance to lead the Gamecocks back to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2017.
Jackson will step in and star for new South Carolina coach Lamont Harris.
Jackson’s size and length, along with his versatility and ability to score effectively from three levels, will give Paris plenty of options for lineups all season.
Last season, Jackson averaged 22.9 points and 10.9 rebounds a game at Ridge View (Columbia, S.C.) and was named MVP of the uber-popular NBPA Top 100 Camp earlier this month. Last month, Jackson went No. 4 overall in SI’s all-high school NBA mock draft.
He will have to be as good or better than advertised to compete in the SEC this season after the Gamecocks lost their top three scorers from last season’s 18-13 squad.
“He’ll get a lot of shots there,” says the ACC assistant coach. “This has been in the works for some time. They were just setting everything up.”
That said, Jackson’s perceived commitment hasn’t stopped college coaches from swarming courtside seats at his games this week at the Peach Jam.
Sources tell SI that multiple schools have given Jackson’s father, Bishop, their spiel over the past week and all signs point to Jackson taking a hard look at the G League as well. Still, with mom cooking less than a 15-minute drive from her dorm at South Carolina, all signs point south.
“Everybody’s saying he’ll put it out a week or two after Peach Jam,” says a Big 12 assistant. “Everybody’s surprised, but this is the nature of our sport now. More things like this will happen in the future. Believe that.”
