Editor’s note: This Sports Notebook was written before the news of G.G. Jackson’s decommitment from UNC was made official Thursday night.
Looks like G.G. Jackson might take the money and run.
Social media has been chirping the last week or so over speculation that Jackson may decommit from Carolina and do something else.
Turns out he was also Hubert Davis’ first choice to take Brady Manek’s spot this coming season – if he wanted to reclassify and graduate from high school this summer. But, reportedly, he did not want to do that, and Davis gave UNC’s last scholarship to grad transfer Pete Nance, who for one season would be way better than a 17-year-old who can’t seem to make up his mind.
Suddenly, following his commitment to Carolina by tweeting out “Go Tar Heels!” messages, Jackson is rumored to be heading, instead, to his home-town school, South Carolina, where he might have gone anyway had popular former Gamecocks player B.J. McKie got the head coaching job to succeed the fired Frank Martin. SC hired Lamont Paris from Tennessee-Chattanooga. Now, apparently, NORTH Carolina’s top recruit may not be coming after all. There are a few other choices Jackson has, and they all are spelled M-O-N-E-Y.
Frankly, after a summer of starring in all-star games and tournaments, Jackson probably decided going back to high school for his senior year was a waste of time.
He could go directly to the NBA G-League and make a six-figure salary his first season in the “minors.” He could go to a semi-pro league like ELITE and make even more. Or, in this day of Name-Image-Likeness money being tied to recruiting, he could reclassify, go to South Carolina on scholarship and make maybe SEVEN figures from the corporate Gamecocks collective.
Or, when all is said and done, he could stay for his senior year in high school and report to Chapel Hill NEXT summer. There is even absurd speculation that he might come to Carolina without a scholarship and let the NIL money he makes pay the freight. Trouble is, UNC is trying to play the NIL game straight, which means no company or collective is going to hand a Tar Heel recruit who hasn’t played a game a bag full of cash.
If Jackson comes to his senses and realizes that playing in a semi-pro league or for the middling Gamecocks this season won’t give him anywhere near the national exposure playing for the Tar Heels next year would, maybe he’ll tweet out, “Just kidding, see you on Franklin Street!”
Featured image via 247 Sports
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