Inside the winding recruitment of 2023 No. 1 prospect GG Jackson

Confusing information has surrounded GG Jackson’s recruitment. This dates back to October 2021 with rumors swirling that Jackson would commit to North Carolina at Late Night with Hubert. We wanted to go back through the timeline and lay out the facts of what we know to be true.

GG Jackson’s plan to reclassify is not a new happening. On3 reported on May 30 that sources were telling us the odds were favorable On3’s No. 1 overall prospect would be reclassifying into the 2022 class. In fact, Jackson, who is only 17 years old, started the reclassification process not long after he attended Late Night with Hubert.

Sources close to the situation say the narrative put out about Jackson being a lock to North Carolina around the Late Night with Hubert visit was a turn off. Jackson maintained, on the record, before, during, and after that visit he was not close to making a decision and had already set official visits to other programs.

As On3 has previously reported, sources close to the situation said that Jackson and South Carolina previously started the reclassification process in the October, November of 2021 time frame.

According to sources, it was at that point the family met with the admissions at South Carolina to see what it would take for Jackson to graduate early and be admitted into the school.

Sources say Jackson set up the appropriate classes and worked during the school year to take the extra credits to ensure he graduated early.

On3 reported throughout Jackson’s recruitment that South Carolina was the only school recruiting him as a part of the 2022 class. Jackson took official visits to Georgetown, UNC, Duke, and lastly South Carolina.

Sources around the situation told On3 that Jackson told the staff, players, and administration he was coming to South Carolina to play for former coach Frank Martin in the 2022 class.

The plan from October/November 2021 until Frank Martin was fired in March was for Jackson to commit to South Carolina, and the work was being completed, by Jackson, for him to enroll as a part of the 2022 class.

Jackson and UNC

Frank Martin was fired in March. However, the family kept the same timeline to commit. They chose UNC toward the end of April. By May, On3 was reporting from sources that Jackson was looking to reclassify.

Before North Carolina recruited Matthew Mayer and eventually landed Pete Nance, sources tell On3 the UNC coaches met with Jackson and his family to ask if he wanted to reclassify at UNC. The sources say they assured Jackson he was the Tar Heels No. 1 priority, and if he wanted to come early, they wanted to go that route and not pursue anyone else. The sources say Jackson told the staff he did not want to enroll early at North Carolina.

The Tar Heels proceeded to land Northwestern grad transfer Pete Nance. Nance’s scholarship was North Carolina’s final roster spot for 2022.

On July 3, On3 followed up the May 30 reclassification news with the break that Jackson was focused on South Carolina. On July 14, On3’s Joe Tipton broke the news on Twitter that GG Jackson is decommitting from North Carolina.

Currently, I have a 95-percent confidence rating on my expert pick in On3’s Recruiting Prediction Machine (RPM) for Jackson to choose South Carolina. Stay tuned to www.On3.com as we continue to keep you up to date as more from this story breaks.