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Ohio State to host four-star guard, Toledo native Jerry Easter Jr. this weekend
Connor Lemons via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by John Jones/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Easter is a top-30 recruit and has been on Ohio State’s radar since before he was in high school.
Jerry Easter Jr. – one of the top guards in the nation and a Toledo native – will take an official visit to Ohio State this weekend, per Easter’s own Twitter/X account.
Easter, who is the No. 32 player in the class and the No. 4 combo guard in the nation according to 247Sports, grew up in Toledo and played two seasons at Emmanuel Christian before transferring to La Lumiere for his junior season. He is now set to play his senior year at Link Academy in Branson, Missouri, alongside three other prospects the Buckeyes have offered – guard Davion Hannah, and centers John Clark and A’mare Bynum.
Bynum, a three-star recruit and the No. 104 player in the nation, will also be visiting Ohio State this weekend.
The 6-foot-3, 185-pound Easter averaged 32.3 points and 7.5 rebounds per game as a sophomore at Emmanuel Christian. He faced a sharp step up in competition this past season at La Lumiere, but still averaged 18.2 points per game in league play against other top schools in Nike EYBL play.
To show how long Ohio State has been recruiting Easter, just look at when they originally offered him a scholarship. The Buckeyes extended a scholarship offer to Easter in September 2021 – a few weeks before his freshman year of high school began. The coach who made the phone call to Easter about the offer? That would be Jake Diebler, who at the time was an assistant on Chris Holtmann’s staff. Three years later, and the now-head coach of the program is still trying to turn Easter into a Buckeye.
Easter’s mother Trena played basketball at Michigan and is from that state up north, while Easter’s father Jerry is close friends with Ohio State legend Jim Jackson, who is also from Toledo. However, there’s no animosity from Easter’s mother toward the Buckeyes, especially since they’ve spent so much time recruiting her son.
“Whatever college makes us feel home, I think that’s where we’re going to go,” Easter’s father told the Columbus Dispatch in May 2022. “We love Ohio State though, we’re definitely looking at Ohio State. My wife, she was all Michigan, but since Michigan ain’t really come, she’s like ‘Whoever’s got love for my baby, that’s who I’ve got love for’ and that’s how she feels right now.”
Ohio State was the fourth school to offer Easter out of 44 total offers for the high four-star recruit, who at one point early in his high school career was considered one of the very top prospects in the 2025 class. Easter has not cut down a list of finalists, and does not plan on doing so. Easter told Sam Lance of ZagsBlog.com on September 26 that when it’s time to pick a school, he’s just going to pick one and be done with it.
“I might just pick a school to be honest,” Easter said. “I don’t see a point in narrowing it down. I know everybody does that, but I’ll probably just pick a school.”
Easter also said that would like to decide sometime this month, before the next signing period.
“Before the next signing period,” he said. “But if not, then in early January or February. Probably at Hoophall or some big event.”
Easter has gone on official visits to Oregon, Georgia Tech, SMU, and Michigan State this year, and the only other school he has a visit planned for at the moment is USC the weekend of Oct. 17-18. Easter also did visit Ohio State in an unofficial capacity in October 2022. If he does make a decision before November, it could come down to those six programs.
Ohio State currently has one commitment in the 2025 recruiting class — four-star guard Dorian Jones from Richmond Heights. Jones will be on an unofficial visit this weekend as well as 2026 Ohio State commit Marcus Johnson, who is a five-star guard from Garfield Heights.
Other recruits that will be in attendance include Bynum (official visit), 2026 four-star forward T.J. Crumble (unofficial visit), and 2026 four-star forward Nate Miles (unofficial visit).
Diebler has previously said that he and his staff may take up to four players in this loaded 2025 class, and that recruiting players from the Buckeye state who want to win at Ohio State is his priority.
“We want to make sure that we’re building relationships across the state, doing our due diligence, spending time and prioritizing (Ohio),” Diebler told Land-Grant Holy Land last month. “That’s the key. We’re going to prioritize this state. And I think you’re seeing that in how we’ve hit the ground running since this new staff has come together.”
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Connor Lemons via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by John Jones/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Easter is a top-30 recruit and has been on Ohio State’s radar since before he was in high school.
Jerry Easter Jr. – one of the top guards in the nation and a Toledo native – will take an official visit to Ohio State this weekend, per Easter’s own Twitter/X account.
Easter, who is the No. 32 player in the class and the No. 4 combo guard in the nation according to 247Sports, grew up in Toledo and played two seasons at Emmanuel Christian before transferring to La Lumiere for his junior season. He is now set to play his senior year at Link Academy in Branson, Missouri, alongside three other prospects the Buckeyes have offered – guard Davion Hannah, and centers John Clark and A’mare Bynum.
Bynum, a three-star recruit and the No. 104 player in the nation, will also be visiting Ohio State this weekend.
The 6-foot-3, 185-pound Easter averaged 32.3 points and 7.5 rebounds per game as a sophomore at Emmanuel Christian. He faced a sharp step up in competition this past season at La Lumiere, but still averaged 18.2 points per game in league play against other top schools in Nike EYBL play.
To show how long Ohio State has been recruiting Easter, just look at when they originally offered him a scholarship. The Buckeyes extended a scholarship offer to Easter in September 2021 – a few weeks before his freshman year of high school began. The coach who made the phone call to Easter about the offer? That would be Jake Diebler, who at the time was an assistant on Chris Holtmann’s staff. Three years later, and the now-head coach of the program is still trying to turn Easter into a Buckeye.
Easter’s mother Trena played basketball at Michigan and is from that state up north, while Easter’s father Jerry is close friends with Ohio State legend Jim Jackson, who is also from Toledo. However, there’s no animosity from Easter’s mother toward the Buckeyes, especially since they’ve spent so much time recruiting her son.
“Whatever college makes us feel home, I think that’s where we’re going to go,” Easter’s father told the Columbus Dispatch in May 2022. “We love Ohio State though, we’re definitely looking at Ohio State. My wife, she was all Michigan, but since Michigan ain’t really come, she’s like ‘Whoever’s got love for my baby, that’s who I’ve got love for’ and that’s how she feels right now.”
Ohio State was the fourth school to offer Easter out of 44 total offers for the high four-star recruit, who at one point early in his high school career was considered one of the very top prospects in the 2025 class. Easter has not cut down a list of finalists, and does not plan on doing so. Easter told Sam Lance of ZagsBlog.com on September 26 that when it’s time to pick a school, he’s just going to pick one and be done with it.
“I might just pick a school to be honest,” Easter said. “I don’t see a point in narrowing it down. I know everybody does that, but I’ll probably just pick a school.”
Easter also said that would like to decide sometime this month, before the next signing period.
“Before the next signing period,” he said. “But if not, then in early January or February. Probably at Hoophall or some big event.”
2025 5️ Jerry Easter II (@JerryEast8) on his unofficial visit to Ohio State. pic.twitter.com/ldB4NaPZrz
— HS Top Recruits (@HSTopRecruiting) October 23, 2022
Easter has gone on official visits to Oregon, Georgia Tech, SMU, and Michigan State this year, and the only other school he has a visit planned for at the moment is USC the weekend of Oct. 17-18. Easter also did visit Ohio State in an unofficial capacity in October 2022. If he does make a decision before November, it could come down to those six programs.
Ohio State currently has one commitment in the 2025 recruiting class — four-star guard Dorian Jones from Richmond Heights. Jones will be on an unofficial visit this weekend as well as 2026 Ohio State commit Marcus Johnson, who is a five-star guard from Garfield Heights.
Other recruits that will be in attendance include Bynum (official visit), 2026 four-star forward T.J. Crumble (unofficial visit), and 2026 four-star forward Nate Miles (unofficial visit).
Diebler has previously said that he and his staff may take up to four players in this loaded 2025 class, and that recruiting players from the Buckeye state who want to win at Ohio State is his priority.
“We want to make sure that we’re building relationships across the state, doing our due diligence, spending time and prioritizing (Ohio),” Diebler told Land-Grant Holy Land last month. “That’s the key. We’re going to prioritize this state. And I think you’re seeing that in how we’ve hit the ground running since this new staff has come together.”
Continue reading...