4-star Chris Lockett Jr. narrows list of schools to five

Chris Lockett Jr., a 6-foot-5 combo guard out of New Orleans Isidore Newman, tells On3 he’s down to the following five schools: Arkansas, Baylor, Kansas, LSU, and Tulane.

The Louisiana native also received offers from Oklahoma State, Houston, Georgetown, Vanderbilt, Grambling State, and Memphis.

Lockett is ranked 80th nationally in the 2023 class, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He’s also the No. 11 combo guard in the country, and No. 1 overall in the state of Louisiana.

Lockett talks finalists

On Saturday, LSU parted ways with men’s head basketball coach, Will Wade. However, for the time being, Lockett has decided to keep the Tigers in consideration.

“When Will Wade was there, he loved my game,” Lockett said. “He would let his guys play and he’s a player’s coach. He was all about player development. When I watched a practice, he was on everybody and that’s what I need in a coach. He cares about winning.

“My game was really advanced when he saw me in ninth grade, he was like ‘I’m a top-five player in my class and he’d love for me to play with them.”

The Tigers started recruiting Lockett early on, offering him a scholarship the summer before the start of his sophomore year. As a 10th grader, ESPN ranked Lockett as the 13th best prospect in the 2023 class.

Lockett struggled with tendonitis, causing college coaches to back off. Fortunately, he is now fully healthy and “100%.”

“A lot of college coaches were like ‘can he really move now?’,” Lockett said of his injury. “It was hard for coaches to buy in to recruit me because there was a risk at the same time. But now that I’m not injured anymore, they feel like they’re back on board and comfortable.”

Arkansas is another program involved in Lockett’s recruitment. The Razorbacks have yet to offer but they’ve been keeping tabs on the combo guard.

“They’ve been showing heavy interest, to the point where like I feel like they’re going to offer depending on how I do as far as live play,” Lockett says.

Lockett took a virtual visit with Arkansas in October.

“The whole coaching staff was on the Zoom call. They were just breaking down film of me, like my weaknesses and how I can work on things to be better prepared for college even if it’s not with them…NIL deals. It all got my attention, honestly.”

Baylor, the defending national champs, are also on Lockett’s list.

“Coach Scott Drew,” Lockett responded when asked what he liked about Baylor. “They had Jared Butler, he’s from down here. When I saw what they did with him…they let him play and let them play freely instead of just being on a leash. That got my attention, watching them last year, and this year too.”

Kansas is the most recent school to offer Lockett, as they extended a scholarship in April of 2021.

“Kansas just called my coach today and they were like, they’ll take me today if I commit right now,” Lockett said. “I like the player development over there with the coaching staff. I feel like I’ll be better on the college level because it’s like my IQ is too high to play high school, and I feel like sometimes I play down to my competition.”

Tulane, the hometown school, rounds out Lockett’s top five programs. He discussed what it would be like to stay home for college.

“It would be good, family could come down…it would be fun playing in that conference with Memphis, Cincinnati, and stuff like that…being a major impact on that team would be huge for me. I don’t know the last time we’ve been in March Madness so it would be good for me to lead the team to that.”

College visits/timeline

Lockett has only taken one (in-person) college visit, an unofficial trip to LSU in October of last year. He doesn’t have any other visits currently scheduled.

He’d like to make a college commitment at the end of the grassroots season.

Playing with Arch Manning

One of Lockett’s teammates at Isidore Newman is Arch Manning, who just so happens to be the No. 1 ranked football prospect in the 2023 class. If the ‘Manning’ last name rings a bell, then you probably know where this is going. Arch is the son of Cooper Manning, the nephew of Peyton and Eli, and the grandson of Archie Manning.

So, what’s it like playing with and knowing Arch Manning?

“It’s fun, I love playing with Arch,” Lockett says. “He’s cool on and off the court, a great friend…to me and everyone honestly. We have a great bond. Playing with him, he has a high IQ and he always knows his role and never has a big head. He’s been supporting me and my basketball career, just like I support his football career.

The two teammates enjoy the recruitment process together too.

“We always talk about recruitment and stuff like that. He’s always trying to figure out where I’m gonna go, and I always try to figure out where he’s gonna go.”

At a recent basketball tournament in Florida, known as City of Palms, Lockett says the media attention and fanfare got pretty crazy for Arch.

“At City of Palms, it was crazy,” Lockett said. “People would be following us, a lot and we’d always try to protect him. He’s just trying to have fun and be a normal kid.”

As a teammate, classmate, and friend of Arch, Lockett had some high praise for the quarterback born into football royalty.

“Arch is a generational quarterback, honestly,” Lockett said. “When it’s all said and done, he’s going to be better than his uncles. That’s just me.”