North Carolina made another big splash in the 2024 class on Monday. Five-star guard Ian Jackson, the No. 2 overall player in the class and No. 1 player from New York, committed to the Tar Heels over a slew of other interested schools that included Kentucky, LSU, Arkansas and Oregon.
Jackson is a 6-foot-4 shooting guard who becomes the highest-rated player to commit in the 2024 cycle and the second top-10 talent in the class to commit, joining fellow UNC commit and five-star Elliot Cadeau. Jackson visited Chapel Hill earlier in January, and that was apparently good enough for him to make his verbal pledge.
"Coach [Hubert] Davis is hoping I can come in and find a spot similar to Caleb Love," Jackson said, per 247Sports. "[He wants me to] be the guy that comes in and scores the basketball. What stood out to me was how much of a family everyone is there. The whole coaching staff played there, so it was cool how everybody is familiar with the program and the culture. It says a lot about UNC that all the former players and coaches come back to the school for their careers."
North Carolina already had a star-studded incoming class for 2024 prior to Jackson's commitment, but his verbal pledge locks down the No. 1 class in the team rankings for now. He is the fourth top-50 commitment of the cycle, joining Cadeau and four-stars Drake Powell and James Brown.
