Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - KU Basketball Lands Top 20 Recruit Elmarko Jackson

Episode Date: October 14, 2022

Bonus episode with KU Basketball landing their third four-star commit for the class of 2023, with Elmarko Jackson, a top 20 recruit on 247 Sports. What Jackson will bring to Kansas, and what's the theme of the trio coming to Lawrence in 2023 for Bill Self and the Jayhawks.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!LinkedInLinkedIn jobs helps you find the candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at Linkedin.com/lockedoncollege Terms and conditions apply.Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!UpsideDownload the FREE Upside App and use promo code Locked to get $5 or more cash back on your first purchase of $10 or more.Underdog FantasySign up on underdogfantasy.com with the promo code LOCKED ON and get your first deposit doubled up to $100!SimpliSafeWith Fast Protect™️ Technology, exclusively from SimpliSafe, 24/7 monitoring agents capture evidence to accurately verify a threat for faster police response. There’s No Safe Like SimpliSafe. Visit SimpliSafe.com/LockedOnCollege to learn more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Happy bonus episode of Locked on Jayhawks. I'm Derek Johnson. You can hear me as well on Rock Chalk Sports Talk, Mondays through Fridays, 3 to 6 on KLWN. Thanks for making Locked on Jayhawks your first listen every day. Although, for this podcast, maybe it's your last listen of the day. We're free and available wherever you get your podcasts. We have our original schedule for Locked on Jayhawks. Maybe it's your last listen of the day. We're free and available wherever you get your podcasts.

We have our original schedule for Locked on Jayhawks. We're still going to have our KU Oklahoma preview come out tomorrow, but wanted to do a special bonus edition episode with the latest commit to El Marco Jackson for the KU basketball team. Before we get into that, betonline.net is your number one source for football betting information this season. Find all the latest player developments, team matchups, news, podcasts, and in-depth articles and analysis on every game you can find. And as always, BetOnline remains your continued source for all your sport wagering information

with live betting and up-to-the-minute scores for every sport out there. The fastest and easiest way to check in on all of your favorite games and events, including MLB, MMA, boxing, golf, college football, and college basketball. Head to BetOnline.net or use your mobile device to learn more. BetOnline, where the game starts. KU lands El Marco Jackson. He is listed by 24-7 Sports as a four-star recruit, both in terms of the composite and the 24-7 specific ratings he's 35th on the composite which would make another KU commit who on the composite is pretty I don't

know like 20 spots lower than what they have for the 24-7 specific rating because he's 35th on the composite the number seven point guard in just 24-7 sports I guess evaluation of him he's ranked 18th in the country he is also a four-star he barely missed out on five-star classification from that standpoint like I said it's it's not the only guy who that's like that. Chris Johnson and Jamari McDowell are the other two commits for KU in the class of 2023, which we'll get to that in a second here because that's interesting that all three of your commits are backcourt players. But McDowell is ranked 77th on the composite, 42nd on 24-7 sports. I trust 24-7 sports, and I think the fact that Kansas is going hard after these guys probably indicates they're closer to maybe that ranking than you would think.

But El Marco Jackson specifically, he's the No. 4 point guard on their site. If you go to On3, which is kind of an up-and-coming recruiting profile as well, he is a top 25 kid overall. He's 6'3", 6'4", about 185, 190 pounds. Out of Connecticut, he will be the class of 2023. He picked KU over Miami, Texas, Maryland, Notre Dame, and some others there as well. Here's the scouting report done from 24-7 Sports back in July. Jackson's combination of size, power, and speed is elite.

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. He initiates contact, draws a ton of fouls. He'll elongate his strides even through the lane to gain separation. Defensively, he can impose his will as well, picking up the ball for the length of the floor and guarding multiple position. The biggest growth in Jackson's game is his decision-making ability.

A year ago, his entire attack was built around sheer force. Now he's learned to use varying speeds. His ability to see the floor and make reads off the ball has improved dramatically. It also mentions that he's still not totally reliable as a three-point shooter. He's made strides with his pull-up game, and he's not someone who is always looking for that three-point shot either as he kind of looks to develop it. It says he needs the ball in his hands to be at his best,

both because opposing help side defenders will be able to help off of him and because he will learn how to play without the ball after having been the focal point of every offense he's been to this point. So he's someone who, athletic, good defensive point guard needs to work on the shot. Well, guess what? How many guards has KU brought in point guards under Bill Self that have been kind of in that ilk and they get better shooting as they're around at KU. Now, who knows how long this kid will be around. And if he's a point guard, that's six, three, six, four. This isn't the case of like a Frank Mason, Devontae Graham, who is an undersized point guard and they stick around college for four years because of it. Even Devon Dotson was like 6'1", 6'2", and that was kind of a knock against him. Jackson kind of has pest defensively will get India obviously very different in other ways,

but just maybe that type of archetype of player for El Marco Jackson. Now, the on three recruiting class says he's a strong framed, long armed lead guard built like he's already been in college strength conditioning program for a couple of years. He's a jet quick lead guard, one of the fastest in the country with the ball in his hands. The jump shot can get flat, but he's shooting it better off the bounce. He's upside on the defensive end and is developing reads in the half court. At 6'4", 200 with great speed, won the ball as eye-opening. His dad played football at Temple and uncle played football at Michigan.

So something that's been a consistent theme with all these guys that KU has landed for the class of 2023 with now Elmarco Johnson adding to that, with Chris Johnson and Jamari McDowell, is that all these guys are really tough-nosed players, right? And that's in the scouting report for all of them, that all of them are willing to guard and play really hard, and all of them, to a certain extent, have some questions about their shooting. And then all of them have the ability to kind of guard up and down the lineup. It's very interesting because of the fact that the way that Bill Self wants to play, to a certain extent, you're not going to say no to good talent and you kind of figure it out from there. You get whoever you can commitment-wise and then from there you adjust your playing style.

Bill Self's been as good as anyone in the country at doing so. He played the high-low ball with two bigs, then go into more of a point guard-dominated lineup with two point guards. Now the wing-related lineup. I think you're seeing that lead into him continuing to want guys that are versatile, can play different positions, can kind of guard one through four to allow them to switch different positions, and can be those multi-positional versatile players that are really good in transition,

similar to what last year's team was. All these guys make that kind of happen, and all of them are in the backcourt too, which tells you a couple things, which we'll get to here in a second. As far as Jackson specifically, though, I think for his outlook, like DeJuan Harris technically could be like a fourth-year sophomore

or something like that this year he redshirted his first year then he had the COVID year which was his first year of play as a redshirt freshman so that technically means last year he was a third year freshman and this year would be a fourth year sophomore though he's listed as a junior point being DeJuan could still have two more years after this year you look at him as being someone who could come in and maybe play next to DeJuan Harris. He's got the size to do it. But the questions about his shooting,

that would be the big question of how successful that could be. Because if DeJuan isn't shooting a ton of shots, even if DeJuan has been proficient when he has taken them, and Elmarco Jackson isn't shooting high volumes or really well from three, it might be tough to play those guys next to each other in terms of the spacing of the offense and everything. But who knows? Maybe DeJuan has a big year this year. Maybe Elmarco Jackson, he's still got another year of high school

and then an offseason presumably headed into college to try to work on that and get that part of his game going as well. He could be a guy that spells DeJuan off the bench, but certainly more point guard competition. They already have a lot of it right now. When you look at DeJuan Harris, like Joe Yesfu and Bobby Pettiford, it looks like whoever wins that job is going to be in for kind of the backup point guard role, and when they do go to two point guard sets,

and then the guy who loses the job, they might get sunk in the depth chart. That doesn't even count Kyle Cuff. So you never know in college basketball the transfer portal hits hard and whatnot and that'll remain to be seen based on what happens this specific year I would imagine though he's going to have an opportunity to be uh if he's a top 20 recruit a guy who plays a lot right away but that point guard room certainly is crowded for KU I want to get to some more of the theme stuff with what KU's class of 2023 looks like here in just a second. Do you have issues with some of your sweat levels?

I feel like I'm always sweating around the studio because it's always a billion degrees in the studio. The heater works during the winter. During the summer, we don't really get much air conditioning. So no matter what, it's just blasting hot in there. And I'm always sweating, and you've got to worry about pit stains and whatnot. Well, Sweat Block was created by a doctor to help with his own excessive sweating. It is doctor-created and doctor-recommended. If you or someone you love is experiencing embarrassing sweat or odor, try Sweat Block.

Save 20% with promo code LOCKEDON at sweatblock.com. Also available on Amazon. KU lands Elmarco Jackson, top 20 recruit for the class of 2023. They now have three commits for the class. All of them are four stars. Elmarco Jackson, who is ranked 18th on 24-7 sports, 35th on the composite. Chris Johnson, who's 49th on 24-7 sports, 46th on the composite Chris Johnson who's 49th on 24-7 sports 46th on the composite and Jamari McDowell 42nd on 24-7 sports 77th on the composite all of them are between 6-3 and 6-4 Johnson and McDowell are both combo guards McDowell's more of like a shooting guard wing type and Johnson's more of

the combo guard Jackson listed as a point guard. All of them, though, are listed as guys who are tough nose, are players that are going to guard on you defensively and can switch multiple positions, and all of them have pretty good size out there. I think the idea is you bring these guys in, you continue to be able to run that kind of switching defense and whatnot, but that also means that KU is, and it's not like this is crazy because it is Kansas basketball and players tend to play well and leave for the NBA draft or graduate or whatever it is but it's certainly interesting now that when you look at KU and you look at what they already have kind of loaded in in the backcourt and at the wing position this year I think a lot of this implies to them of, yeah, guys are going to be leaving because technically this commitment would put KU over the scholarship limit by two,

but that would be under the assumption Jalen Wilson would come back for another year and Kevin McCuller would come back for another year. And I kind of expect both those guys to be gone at the end of the season. Like I said, whoever loses out on that battle between Yesifu, Pettiford, and Cuff, if one of the three or maybe even two of the three are unhappy with their minutes, I'm not saying they will transfer, but would it be surprising in this day and age of college basketball? We see it all the time. Grady Dick and MJ Rice could both have a good enough season

to just go pro after the year. You could have another transfer somewhere if somebody's unhappy with the center minutes. So they're going to be losing a lot. Specifically just in the backcourt though. I think for that 2023-24 season. You expect DeJuan Harris to be back. At that point would be basically a.

Like fifth year junior slash senior. That could still have another year after next year back. One of Bobby Pettiford and Joe Yesifu. Would be back. Maybe two. And then maybe one of Grady Dick or MJ Rice is back. One of Bobby Pettiford and Joe Yesifu would be back, maybe two. And then maybe one of Grady Dick or MJ Rice is back. And I'm talking players kind of one through four. I guess KJ Adams, too, could kind of fill into that three or four role as well.

Slash five also there. So there's going to be openings for playing time, but it all depends who comes back or whatnot for are those openings as backups? Are they coming in to have an open spot as a starter? But you do think that this recruiting class for KU, it has a common theme, and it tells you a lot about KU thinking they're going to need to fill some spots in the backcourt and on the wing and the style of play Bill Self wants to have, which it almost seems like Bill Self is going toward like a,

like what Texas Tech did last year, but like a more refined version of it. Like Texas Tech last year, like everybody in the lineup was like between 6'4 and 6'8, except I think for Bill Self, he does want more of a, you know, when I say traditional center, I don't mean from the standpoint of like back to the basket. He would love that. But like Zach Clements, I mean, in terms of height of what the center is. I think that Bill Self would love to have

a team like Texas Tech last year where it's like 6-4 to 6-8 all throughout the lineup, and you can switch five, and I think that's what these guys kind of tell you is the case for KU, but that's a big time get. El Marco Jackson should be pretty good wearing a KU uniform. That is going to do it for this special episode.

Bonus content here with Locked On Jayhawks. Tomorrow we're going to have our KU Oklahoma preview. If you have anything you'd like, you can reach out at DJohnsonRadio on Twitter. That'll do it for this episode. Have a good rest of your day. See you tomorrow.