Top-20 Tyler Jackson breaks down Alabama and Syracuse

Tyler Jackson is the No. 16 player in the 2025 Industry Ranking. The 6-foot-1 guard from Baltimore (MD) St. Frances guard joined Team Melo on Nike’s EYBL 16u Circuit in May. Jackson averaged 30.0 points on 50 percent shooting from three with them.

“I play with aggressiveness,” Jackson told On3. “I can score the ball, but I’m trying to facilitate more for my team and lock up on defense. I’ll watch a lot of Kyrie Irving and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. How they play with pace and move off the ball while still creating for their teammates.”

On3 caught up with four-star Tyler Jackson after a recent live viewing to get an update with his recruitment.

Jackson talks recruitment

“I’d say I’m hearing the most from Alabama and Syracuse,” Jackson said. “I’ll set a visit with Syracuse. I haven’t really talked with other schools yet about visits, and schools are still calling and contacting me.”

Alabama: “They trust in their guards a lot and give them the freedom to make plays. One of my favorite high school players ever went there, Collin Sexton. We’re not really talking too much about basketball right now, we’re having normal conversations, building that relationship, and talking about life in general. I like Alabama a lot.”

Syracuse: “Carmelo (Anthony) went there, and they’re like a Baltimore-oriented school which stands out to us kids from Baltimore. They love my game, they want to come in and be that guy. They want me and Kiyan (Anthony) to come as their 2025 backcourt. We’re supposed to be setting up an official visit for September, so we’ll see how that goes.”

“I’m also hearing from schools like Kentucky, Oregon, Texas, and some more SEC schools like LSU,” Jackson said.

In his words

Tyler Jackson is travel teammates with four-star shooting guard Kiyan Anthony, son of Carmelo Anthony, so we followed up with the mention from earlier in the interview.

“Me and Kiyan (Anthony), our recruitments are separate,” Jackson said. “We are both still going through our own recruitments, but after we get a new school, we talk about it.

“I want to go to a school, play for a coach that will put his trust in me to be that guy. Somewhere that will let me play and give me that freedom. I want to get coached and play for a coach who is going to coach me hard, I can take criticism.”