GG Jackson, widely regarded to be the top high school basketball recruit in the class of 2023, decommitted from North Carolina on Thursday evening. Jackson originally announced his commitment to UNC on April 27.
"Thank you to coach Hubert Davis and the UNC Basketball staff for recruiting me and giving me a chance to play for your university," Jackson wrote in a statement on Twitter on Thursday.
Rumors of Jackson’s possible decommitment initially started swirling in June, when On3 released a report hinting that Jackson was considering decommitting from UNC in order to reclass and enroll in college a year early.
UNC offered its 13th and final available scholarship for the upcoming season to Northwestern transfer Pete Nance in June.
A power forward standing at 6-foot-8, Jackson rose to On3’s consensus No. 1 player and 247Sports Composite’s No. 2 player in the class of 2023 over the course of the spring. Jackson, who averaged 22.1 points and 10.9 rebounds per game this past season, was on track to be UNC’s highest-ranked recruit since Harrison Barnes committed to UNC in 2009.
Jackson's decommitment leaves Simeon Wilcher, a five-star combo guard from Roselle, N.J., as the sole UNC commit in the class of 2023.
South Carolina, alongside Duke, Auburn and Georgetown, were among the other schools Jackson considered during his high school recruiting.
