'07 OH PG/SG Dante Jackson (Xavier Verbal)

[OSUBucks22]

Dante has visited Xavier 18 times (no joke), and UD only once. If he goes to UD, it Brian Gregory would have pulled off the biggest sales job ever...

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Rivals.com$

8/7/06

Jackson has verbaled to Xavier.

[Redlegs]

Scout $

Just going along with the Rivals article. Xavier is the choice.

Good for Dante. He's going into a program that has a good thing going right now.

[JohnnyCockfight]

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.d...0102/308070032

Xavier a perfect fit

BY DUSTIN DOW | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Traveling south to Cincinnati from Greenfield, Ohio, for a campus visit last Friday, coveted basketball recruit Dante Jackson didn’t think he would actually commit to play for Xavier University that very day.

“I really didn’t,” Jackson said Monday. “I didn’t think I would feel this good or this strongly about it.”

But it didn’t take long for him to become convinced that Xavier – rather than places such as Dayton, Kansas State, Notre Dame, Michigan or the University of Cincinnati – was the best place to continue his basketball career.

He decided during the visit to XU that he would orally commit to the Musketeers and will make a formal announcement at Greenfield McClain High School on Thursday.

Come November, Jackson expects to sign a national-letter-of-intent to attend Xavier in 2007.

Miller’s persistence on the summer recruiting scene was the difference for Jackson, a 6-feet-5 guard who is rated among the top 150 players in the 2007 class by Rivals.com.

Xavier made it a priority to show up for Jackson’s high school and summer games, which didn’t go unnoticed by the player.

“He’s really recruited me hard,” Jackson said of Miller. “They run a good program, and really, I just fell in love with their coaching staff.”

Greenfield McClain athletic director Pat Stevens speculated that Jackson is the first Division I recruit to come out of the high school in recent memory.

McClain played in Xavier’s team camp this summer, a process that helped Jackson get more familiar with Xavier’s campus before this past weekend’s visit.

“I felt real good just walking around on the campus,” Jackson said. “It was probably the best college visit I’ve been on.”

NCAA rules prohibit Miller from directly speaking about an unsigned recruit, but he has said in the past that the team camp is a valuable recruiting element considering that many current XU players participated in it as high school players.

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Jackson will be a solid player for them. Best of Luck.

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Scout.com (Free)

8/8/06

Dave Telep......more on his upcoming verbal to Xavier.

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

Jackson had 41 points, 21 rebounds, seven assists and three blocks in a 104-75 win over Upper Sandusky and Jon Diebler.

[crazybuckfan40]

Originally Posted by OSUBasketballJunkie

Dispatch

Jackson had 41 points, 21 rebounds, seven assists and three blocks in a 104-75 win over Upper Sandusky and Jon Diebler.

I totally agree Junkie, this kid is going to make Xavier very happy. He is a total leader out there on the court and is very fun to watch.

I still think after seeing his athleticism on the basketball court that he could of made a D-I football team very happy at WR.

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

It is just a shame that he will not be a Buckeye, he really wanted the opportunity.........I like the fact he plays with a chip on his shoulder.....

[crazybuckfan40]

Originally Posted by OSUBasketballJunkie

It is just a shame that he will not be a Buckeye, he really wanted the opportunity.........I like the fact he plays with a chip on his shoulder.....

Yeah he does. You could tell he really wanted to put it to Diebler who is going to be a buckeye...

[LitlBuck]

I will never understand why Jackson was not offered. If Turner is a better player, Turner must be quite good.

[Thump]

My buddy said that Jackson personally beat the Upper Sandusky press by himself.

[korchiki]

Originally Posted by LitlBuck

I will never understand why Jackson was not offered. If Turner is a better player, Turner must be quite good.

Turner is more of a defensive player...he also shut down oj mayo in a camp fwiw...seems like he is pretty good

[crazybuckfan40]

Originally Posted by LitlBuck

I will never understand why Jackson was not offered. If Turner is a better player, Turner must be quite good.

At this point I would say Turner has a better all around game especially the fact that he has a good jumper and Jackson's jumper needs work, but overall I owuld say you can't go wrong with either one.

The staff just never seemed like they could get over the hump on Jackson...

[buckeydoptimist]

Turner is certainly more well regarded nationally among scouts and gurus than Jackson. I also think the staff loves his defense and they like Diebs shooting range. I have no problem with either of those offers over Jackson. Those 2 just fit the system better.

The move I really can't figure out is passing on Tyus ( who wants to play the wing ) and not going after Jackson ( for whatever reasons ) and then to go after other wings Hudson and end up signing Wallace. I'd have preferred Tyus to either of those two and might well have preferred signing Jackson over Wallace. If we are to take "fliers" and longer shot prospects I'd rather an OH athletic raw prospect than one from NC who is not very prolific yet and about similar in potential and upside. I guess his 4.0 gpa really attracted the staff.

I hate it that we have only one more opening ( and that is with the supposition that Oden and Cook are both gone by the 2008-2009 season ) for the 2008 recruiting class with T25 talents Roe, Gates, Babbitt, Frease(already passed on due to too few ships), Ebanks(unlikely since they want a PF), Evans(probably ended with Crater verbal but would love to have an opening to still offer him) all having shown some degree of interest. I know we couldn't have signed all of them, but I'd rather ANY TWO from that list of 6 than Wallace and only one of them. Have to second guess Wallace in 2007 and Madsen in 2006 considering who they will end up costing us ( super major T25 elite talents in 2008 and 2009). We'll never know for sure, but I think Matta would have bagged BIG GAME with those ships had he not used them up on those two high gpa "longshots".

Can't sugar coat it!

GO BUCKS! beat wisky