After the news broke yesterday afternoon that Simeon Wilcher wanted out of his commitment to UNC, it sent shockwaves through the UNC program, and even the fan base. It’s not every day you see a player the caliber of Wilcher, ask out of his letter of intent, when he was supposed to be one of the headliners of the incoming freshman class. Shortly after the news was out, rumors started to swirl that the 2024 five-star commit, Ian Jackson was going to decommit as well. Jackson has stayed committed to Carolina during a trying 2022-23 season, and remained true to UNC, even after St. John’s hired the legendary Rick Pitino. With all the angst about Jackson’s future as a Tar Heel, Inside Carolina reached out to see where he stands on his Tar Heel commitment.
After Elliot Cadeau reclassified last week, there were many around the UNC program and the college basketball world in general that thought Jackson would follow, and join the program this season. Instead, Jackson told Inside Carolina “I have considered (reclassifying) but I feel as if I want to take this year to prepare my body and my mind to walk into UNC as a professional. I'm 100 percent committed to UNC and will join the program next season (2024-25)." While things are liable to change, Hubert Davis can rest assured that his top commit in the 2024 class, doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, anytime soon. The challenge now for Davis, and his staff, is to fill out a class around Jackson, for next season. Carolina also has commitments from Drake Powell and James Brown, but will likely look for one more player, most likely one that plays in the backcourt.
With Jackson shutting down any chances of him reclassifying, and with Carolina still having three roster spots available, it’s time for the staff to go portal once again. With so many people believing Carolina was going to add two reclassified players to their roster for next season, it makes sense why Carolina had quit pursuing transfer targets. Jarin Stevenson visited campus last week, and left without a commitment, let alone a decision to reclass and join the team for the upcoming season. This means that Davis and his staff, have to act swiftly to find the guys in the portal to target, and then hope they can convince them on why to play at UNC, after getting involved late in their recruitment.
Losing Wilcher is still a punch to the gut, but losing Jackson could’ve been detrimental, and could’ve sent the program spiraling out of control off the court. Even though we may have to wait a year, it’s nice to know that we’re still going to Jackson in the Carolina Blue one day.
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