GG Jackson officially signs with Gamecocks, school announces

The South Carolina men’s basketball team officially announced the signing of five-star recruit G.G. Jackson on Monday.

The 6-foot-9 Ridge View High forward announced his commitment to his hometown Gamecocks on Saturday, while also announcing his intentions to reclassify to the 2022 class and play college basketball this upcoming season. Jackson is the highest-ranked signing for the Gamecocks in program history and represents a massive recruiting win for first-year head coach Lamont Paris.

“We are in the business of helping provide opportunities to young people and this is a prime example of being able to do that,” Paris said in the school’s official release. “It makes me really happy that G.G. will be close to his family and be able to play every home game in front of them. His game speaks for itself. He’s an incredibly talented basketball player as well as a gifted athlete. G.G. thinks the game at an uncommonly high level. His versatility on both sides of the basketball is extremely rare. G.G. is a very high character individual and has an incredibly magnetic personality. He will fit in perfectly with this group of young men.”

Jackson initially committed to North Carolina as the top-rated Class of 2023 recruit but re-opened his recruitment on July 14 and explored professional options before ultimately signing with Paris and the Gamecocks.

Jackson projects to be the focal point of a reshaped USC team that will feature a new-low starting five. Paris and his staff have worked the transfer portal to add veterans in the form of forward Hayden Brown (The Citadel) and lengthy guard Ebrima Dibba (Coastal Carolina) and high-upside players like Meechie Johnson (Ohio State) and Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk (Illinois). But Jackson is by far the team’s bigges splash of the offseason.

An athletic, versatile scorer, Jackson averaged 22.9 points, 10.9 rebounds this past season in helping the Blazers to the Class 5A championship. It was Ridge View’s fourth championship in five years.

Jackson will be one of three freshmen on USC’s 2022-23 squad along with guards Zachary Davis and Daniel Hankins-Sanford, both of whom originally committed to the previous coaching staff. All three freshmen stand at 6-foot-8 or taller.