Women's Hoops Hello: Emoni Jackson
The Michigan women's basketball program secured verbal commitment #4 for its 2014 class tonight, as Emoni Jackson announced on Twitter: "It's official I'm a Michigan Wolverine #goblue." Jackson is a 6-1 wing/forward who's attending Long Beach Poly H.S. in California. She played AAU ball for Cal Sparks Gold, at one time teaming with Michigan freshman Siera Thompson. In fact, Michigan offered both Jackson and Thompson at the same time, in June 2012.
Jackson's a bit under-the-radar now because she suffered a torn ACL last summer, forcing her to sit out her junior season as well as AAU ball this summer. But before her injury, she had drawn interest from the likes of UCLA, USC, and Penn State. As I noted recently on the women's basketball recruiting board, her then high school coach in early 2012 called her a future All-American. That statement comes from a February 2012 local newspaper profile titled "Taking Charge" that also includes this:
This season, Emoni Jackson is averaging a double-double for the second consecutive year. She leads the team in scoring at 16.8 points per game and rebounds at 12.4. She leads the team in blocked shots (26), is second with 1.5 assists per game and has a team-high 2.4 steals per game.
All the while facing double and triple teams.
"I'm not surprised because I know I can do it," she said of her double-double average. "I'm proud that I've been able to score as much as I have. I just have to work harder and keep trying to get better."
She is also known to be a very good student.
Assuming she fully recovers from her injury, it seems like Jackson could be a real "steal."
posted by Jackson on Instagram
September 13th, 2013 at 11:14 PM ^
September 13th, 2013 at 11:48 PM ^
The facilities upgrades have helped, but this staff is going after—and landing—a higher level of recruit. One key is that they are well connected in the AAU world, across the country, something that's a must when recruiting the higher-ranked prospects. Developing pipelines as they seem to have done with Cal Sparks, a leading AAU program in California, and the Toledo Vipers bodes well for the future.
September 13th, 2013 at 11:55 PM ^
September 13th, 2013 at 11:34 PM ^
We need four more just like her so we can have our own Jackson 5!
September 14th, 2013 at 1:27 AM ^
September 14th, 2013 at 9:38 AM ^
...would anyone downvote this post?
September 14th, 2013 at 9:58 AM ^
I really am tired of seeing Wolverines Dominate downvote perfectly great threads
September 14th, 2013 at 11:00 AM ^
September 14th, 2013 at 10:16 AM ^
September 14th, 2013 at 6:38 PM ^
A couple of recruiting services have Emoni Jackson as an unranked 3-star, but ASGR has her at #85. That lends credence to my notion of her being a potential "steal."
The ASGR rankings for Michigan's four 2014 commitments are collectively impressive: #19, #85, #98, and #129. That might amount to a borderline top 10 class.