Where things stand with GG Jackson and South Carolina after meeting with Lamont Paris
New South Carolina basketball coach met with five-star hometown prospect GG Jackson for the first time Monday.
Paris visited Ridge View High School to meet with Jackson and his father. Jackson is rated the Rivals and On3Sports top player nationally in the 2023 class.
“It went really well,” outgoing Ridge View basketball coach Yerrick Stoneman said on SportsTalk Radio show with Phil Kornblut. “Coach Paris is an amazing person. I think he is going to be similar to coach (Shane) Beamer. And the community is going to get behind him, want to be around him just because of his personality.
“... They are a little behind and he knows he is really behind, but they are really working hard to build that relationship between the Jacksons and himself.”
The meeting was a good first step, Stoneman told The State, as Paris laid out his vision for the program and how Jackson could fit in it. Jackson’s mother couldn’t make the meeting because of work, and another meeting could follow.
Because Paris is a new coach, Stoneman said it’s possible NCAA rules will allow another meeting on campus even though Jackson already has taken an official visit to USC.
“It doesn’t have to be an overnight visit,” Stoneman said. “That is a possibility they could sit down on campus or in a nice restaurant, which I think would be exciting to do for GG. They can sit down and meet the coaching staff and their families.”
Paris is in the process of finalizing his staff but said last week at his introductory press conference that he is waiting to see if one of his former assistants gets his old job at Chattanooga.
Until then, Paris will be handle all recruiting efforts himself and reach out to as many kids as possible. Paris has large holes to fill on the roster, with six players from USC in the transfer portal and two departures from graduate seniors.
“He knows it is a priority for him that he needed to be over here and recruit him,” Stoneman said. “He is working hard and gaining confidence with other top players in the state, whether it is Julian Phillips or Kyle Greene, Cam Scott to Jordan Butler … the kid at White Knoll, Treyvon Maddox. He knows of the kids in the state he needs to focus and try to bring to South Carolina.”
Paris is expected to talk with Phillips, who played at Blythewood before transferring to his senior season at Link Academy in Missouri this week. Phillips is in Chicago until Wednesday to play in the McDonald’s All-American Game.
Phillips was an LSU signee but got out of his letter of intent after coach Will Wade was fired.
Paris has until the end of the week before the NCAA recruiting calendar has a dead period from March 31 until noon April 7. After that, coaches can attend NCAA-certified events for evaluation for most of the spring and summer.
Jackson will play the AAU circuit with the CP3 team out of North Carolina in the first live event in Orlando on April 8-10. Jackson and his father told The State last week there was a possibility of a college decision before the first live event.
“When coach came in and made his pitch, the family might say let’s sit down and be patient with this and see what coach Paris and his staff have to offer us as a basketball player,” Greg Jackson said last week. “Either way it will be good, if he waits or goes now. Wherever GG goes, he is going to be successful because of the person he is and family backing he has.”
Jackson listed South Carolina as one of the six finalists earlier this month along with Auburn, Duke, Georgetown, North Carolina and playing professionally with the G-League. He took official visits to Duke, Georgetown and North Carolina, and Auburn’s Buce Pearl met with Jackson and his father last week at Ridge View.
G-League officials spoke with Jackson and his family in the past, and they took a tour of Overtime Elite, another professional option this weekend when they were in Atlanta to play in a basketball showcase event.
Many recruiting analysts think it might be between UNC and Duke to land Jackson if the Gamecocks can’t. Both UNC and Duke are playing in the Final Four this weekend. Jackson told Rivals’ Rob Cassidy at last weekend’s underclassmen event in Atlanta that he heard from UNC coach Hubert Davis before the Tar Heels’ Sweet 16 game against UCLA.
“I texted with (Coach) Davis before they played the UCLA game and gave him my opinion on what that game was going to be like and all that,” Jackson told Rivals. “It’s always all love with him and all love around there. I liked watching them. They don’t play as many guys as other programs do, so this ‘run’ surprised me a little. Obviously Coach Hubert knows what he’s doing, though. It seems like all the coaches and the players are always on the same page.
“... I haven’t spoken to Duke coaches in a while because they’re all pretty locked into the tournament, obviously. I have been communicating with the players, though. But with the players and the coaches it’s constant love and feedback.”
This story was originally published March 29, 2022 at 9:52 AM.
