By JACOB POLACHECK
Jaden Jones, the 6-foot-7 combo guard from St. Louis Christian (MO) Academy, committed to Rutgers on Wednesday, his father Jerel Jones told 247Sports.
“They say go where you’re loved, and we felt a lot of love there,” the elder Jones said.
“It was huge,” he added. “The culture there, after going and seeing it. They were down in that game, and I wanted to see the coach and how he responded to his player and with the speech he gave in his office to us. It all matched.”
Jones took his official visit to Rutgers on Jan. 7. He chose Rutgers over USC, LSU, San Diego State and Alabama.
Jones is the first commit in Rutgers’ 2021 class. They currently have three 2020 commitments in Mawot Mag, Dean Reiber and Oskar Palmquist.
The elder Jones also told 247Sports that Rutgers assistant Karl Hobbs played an integral part in the recruiting process.
“Coach Karl, he scouted Jaden for 10 days,” he said. “I just thought he was a local. He expressed to me he knew what he was looking at, and he expressed to me he has had some pro guards and he said he knows what he’s looking at in Jaden. He’s younger and a guard. He just has been recruiting me, like I thought recruitment was supposed to be.”
According to 247Sports, Jones is ranked as the No. 96 overall player in the. Class of 2021 and the No. 22 ranked small forward.
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