By SAM LANCE
BRANSON, MO — After a standout AAU season where he emerged as one of the top scorers in the EYBL, four-star guard Jerry Easter is looking to bring that same success to Link Academy for his senior season. But this fall, instead of chasing a Peach Jam crown, Easter has the goal of winning Chipotle Nationals.
“We just want to take each game one at a time,” Easter told ZAGSBLOG. “So we’re just focusing on our first scrimmage on Oct. 18, and after that we’re going to focus on the next game after that. Even though that’s our goal, we are going to take it step by step and get better throughout the season.”
On the recruitment front, Easter has taken one official visit this fall to SMU. He went this past weekend. Easter previously had multiple visits scheduled, but has only taken SMU and doesn’t have any others set in stone at the moment.
“I don’t know yet,” Easter said when asked if he had any other officials coming up. “Yeah, I don’t know yet.”
Here’s what Easter had to say about SMU: “It was fun. It was a nice visit. I like the coaching staff, the facilities, the players. Everything about it. Everything about SMU is nice. I know they were at USC at first and they moved over to SMU, but I mean, it’s still the same. I like the school. Obviously they had two top players commit there — Jermaine O’Neal Jr. and Jaden Toombs. So I know they’re just waiting for me next.”
Picking up Easter would be huge for Andy Enfield and would give SMU one of the best, if not the best recruiting class in the country. Easter is close friends with both O’Neal Jr. and Toombs.
Easter does not plan on narrowing down to a top schools list.
“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 would like to decide before November.
“Like before the next singing period,” he said. “But if not, then in early January/February. Probably at Hoophall or some big event.”
At Peach Jam, Easter was the fourth leading scorer of the PIT, averaging 20.3 points per game. He is ranked the No. 32 overall player in the 2025 class, per 247Sports. The guard credits the strong chemistry at Link Academy as a key factor in their belief that they can win it all.
“We all can do everything,” Easter said. “And obviously everyone on this team, including Davion [Hannah] and me, we have something to prove this year. We are just coming at whoever we play. We just want to win. But I don’t think anyone can stop us because we have like — our whole team is just talented. This is probably one of the best teams I’ve been on in a while.
Easter continued:
“Obviously, I didn’t know them before this. But me being around them, everyone has their personalities on the court and off the court. So I mean, just getting to hangout with them outside of basketball, I feel like that’s just been really fun. Just everybody here I love being with and they’re my brothers now. So I just got their back, whatever we do.”
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