Former Michigan, VCU recruit could make a return to the Big Ten at Penn State

Today, exactly one week after former head coach Micah Shrewsberry leave the program for Notre Dame, the Nittany Lions hired a new head basketball coach. Mike Rhoades — a great basketball coach who has seen success at every stop, most recently at VCU — will be the new Penn State basketball coach, and is getting a hefty raise. Seeing as the school’s basketball program is very bare bones right now, Rhoades will have to hit the portal quite a bit this offseason, and may look to bring some talent from VCU with him. One of the top players that Rhoades should look to poach from his old program is former four-star Zeb Jackson, who has now made stops with Michigan basketball and VCU.

Mike Rhoades should look to bring former four-star Zeb Jackson from Michigan & VCU

As a recruit, former four-star Zeb Jackson committed to play for Juwan Howard and the Michigan basketball team back in 2020. After two years with Michigan basketball, he hit the portal and left Ann Arbor in favor of playing in Richmond for Mike Rhoades and the VCU Rams. Along with fellow four-star Wolverine transfer Brandon Johns Jr., Zeb Jackson helped lead VCU to an A-10 title and NCAA tournament berth this past season.

During the 2022-23 season, Zeb Jackson saw action in 35 of VCU’s games averaging over 17 minutes per game and shooting 39.1% from the floor — he is familiar with Mike Rhoades style of play, and as we saw during his time in Ann Arbor (and some with VCU) he can be a solid offensive weapon as well. One of the biggest upsides to Penn State basketball acquiring Zeb Jackson would be his familiarity with Rhoades and the Big Ten — there may not be a single other player out there that could come to Penn State and already have experience in the conference and have experience with Rhoades’ style of play.

As we saw with Micah Shrewsberry’s exit from Penn State basketball, there is a good chance that many of VCU’s star players will enter the transfer portal — if Penn State basketball is lucky, Zeb Jackson could end up in the Blue and White next year.

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