Cincinnati Bearcats Land Among Final Seven Schools For Four-Star 2027 Guard

Cincinnati is working hard on the recruiting trail.

Jan 3, 2015; Cincinnati, OH, USA; A general view of Cincinnati Bearcats basketball in net prior to the game against the Southern Methodist Mustangs at Fifth Third Arena. The Bearcats won 56-50. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Bearcats basketball program is in the mix with a high-level 2027 talent. 247Sports' Eric Bossi reported on Tuesday that Cincinnati is in the final seven schools for 2027 guard Payton Jones out of Dynamic Prep (Texas).

Jones is down to a final group of Baylor, Boston College, Cincinnati, Houston, Clemson, Maryland, and Oklahoma State.

According to 247Sports, Jones is ranked 65th nationally and 12th among combo guards in the 2027 class. The 6-foot-2, 185-pound talent held 25 offers before cutting his list down to these seven schools.

That list includes teams such as Texas Southern University, Kansas State, Lamar, Mississippi State, Texas A&M, LSU, Missouri, Stephen F. Austin, Maryland, Grambling State, UTSA, San Diego, Auburn, TCU, N.C. State, SMU, UNLV, New Orleans, Oklahoma State, Virginia Tech, New Mexico State, Houston, Cincinnati, Clemson and Baylor, among others.

Jerrod Calhoun and his staff offered Jones on May 27, and he visited campus last month on June 21. It's been a busy catch-up stretch for Calhoun and his staff on the recruiting trail.

"Leadership comes in many ways," Calhoun said in a media scrum last month. "The reason we have some older guys and some younger guys, that's all by design. I think it's very hard to take 10 or 12 one-year guys, so I like to build a system where we don't have to do what we did last year with the portal, bringing a whole new team every year. That's not a recipe that I love.

"So we're gonna attack high school recruiting. I think we're setting the record for Zooms. We did three of them yesterday; we got two today, right after practice. So, if I run out of here, we're on another Zoom, but we're playing catch-up a little bit in that department. But we're gonna kill the high school recruiting."

Cincinnati is hard at work during summer practices getting ready for the first season of the Jerrod Calhoun era.

Check out highlights from Jones' game and more below:

Highlights of top 50 2027 guard Payton Jones from earlier today against KC Run GMC. @Joneswrld9 pic.twitter.com/Y58asR0M1f

— Trevor Andershock (@INBBallSource) July 17, 2026

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