Kansas Basketball 2023 Recruiting Profiles: Elmarko Jackson
Between the players leaving (Jalen Wilson, Kevin McCullar, and likely Gradey Dick) and those who have hit the transfer portal, it’s going to be a new-look Kansas basketball team next year.
A big part of that is the freshman class, which currently ranks sixth nationally at 247Sports with one five-star and three four-star players. So let’s get to know each of them a bit better, starting with the point guard and highest-rated player, Elmarko Jackson.
Player Overview
Jackson is the No. 21 player overall in his class and third-ranked point guard as a five-star recruit. I’ve seen Jackson listed at either 6-3 or 6-4 and anywhere from 185-200 pounds, which means that from a physical build standpoint, he’s bigger than either Joseph Yesufu or Bobby Pettiford were for Kansas this year.
Jackson is a McDonald’s All-American who was averaging 19 points and six assists as of the end of January at South Kent in Connecticut. That’s after he averaged 17.9 ppg, 5.7 rebounds, and 5.4 apg as a junior at Academy of the New Church. He also played on the We R1 AAU team, where he averaged 15.1 ppg, 5.5 rpg, and 5.6 apg heading into his senior year.
Jackson also received offers from Texas, Miami, Cal, and Bryant and he took visits to Texas and Miami before committing to Kansas.
Analyst Scouting Report
Jackson isn’t going to come in and immediately stretch the floor with his shooting. Instead, it sounds like he is more of an extension of Dajuan Harris. Though if you watch his highlights, he will knock down long jumpers. Just look at this scout from 247Sports:
He gets downhill as well as any guard in the national class, not just in the open floor where he has a head of steam, but in the half-court as well with his ability to turn the corner on a ball-screen. He initiates contact, draws a ton of fouls, and will even elongate his strides going through the lane to gain separation from his defender. Defensively, he can impose his will as well, both picking up the ball for the length of the floor and guarding multiple positions.
And he has the body to make an impact in college off the bat. As On3 points out, Jackson is a “strong framed, long armed lead guard” and is “a jet-quick lead guard, one of the fastest in the country with the ball in his hands.”
How He Fits
It sounds like Bill Self found his guy, and that is before we get to his on-court ability. Eric Bossi of 247Sports went with this attribute before any others when talking about Jackson and his fit at Kansas: “First and foremost, Jackson is tough. If there is anything Self covets most in a guard it is toughness.”
The compliment we have given to the best point guards under Self is that they have looked like a second coach on the floor. And the ones that succeed under Self have a high basketball IQ. That’s why this quote from Jackson’s coach at South Kent, Raphael Chillious, to ZAGSBLOG jumped out: “He hasn’t been playing the game or the position that long, but he’s a sponge and super smart, so he’s picked up the little nuances of the game very quickly.”
Who better to be a sponge of than Harris and Self?
But it’s also what he does on the court. Just watch a minute of one of his highlight mixes as he gets to the lane, runs the fast break, or finds a teammate for an alley-oop and it’s easy to picture him in a Kanass uniform doing that in Allen Fieldhouse.
Fans will get to see that soon enough.
