TALL ORDER
Jahzare Jackson in new career venture as 330lb, 6ft 11ins teen ditches college basketball career with latest commitment
The former hooper played alongside Bronny James but is now targeting the NFL
JAHZARE Jackson has announced he is quitting basketball to pursue a career in football.
The 6-foot-11 former Overtime Elite star has committed to play with the Georgia Bulldogs next season.
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Jackson will be among the tallest players in college football after joining Georgia earlier this week.
He opted for the program over Florida, Florida State, Mississippi State, and Arkansas.
Tipping the scales at 330 pounds, the gifted athlete has spent the last three years with the Atlanta-based Overtime Elitel league.
The 20-year-old will officially enroll with the team next month.
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"This year, the plan is for me to come in there and buy into their scheme and learn their scheme and also just develop and get better fundamentally," Jackson told ESPN.
"They want me to come in my first year and be able to play maybe 20-30 snaps for the season.
"After that, they think I have the potential to come in my second year and be a starter."
Jackson grew up in San Diego, California, and was a promising football star in middle school.
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As he grew to almost 7 feet his focus turned to basketball, prompting a moved to the famed IMG Academy in Florida.
The ex-NBA hopeful was once a teammate of Bronny James, a recent second-round pick for the Los Angeles Lakers.
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Jackson entered the NBA Draft last month but went unselected.
"It was just making the right decision at the end of the day and evaluating all opportunities that I had on the table," Jackson continued.
"I had to figure out what I was going to do, where I was going to start from, where I was going to begin in making this transition. Then I just got to work."
His recruitment with Georgia comes as the program welcomes six offensive linemen in the class of 2024.
Jackson will become eligible for the NFL Draft at the end of the 2025 season.
What the new TV deal means for the NBA?
By The U.S. Sun's Assistant Sports Editor Damian Burchardt.
THE new TV rights deal is promising to be a humongous win for NBA players.
The league is set to more than double the revenue coming from its media partners, pocketing about $6.9 billion per year, which will inevitably lead to a huge salary cap spike in 2025-26.
That is going to send the value of player contracts skyrocketing.
Projected figures suggest we might see the first $100 million-per-year deal being signed soon.
Currently, Boston Celtics All-Star Jayson Tatum is projected to earn the highest single-season salary in NBA history, collecting $71.5 million in 2029-30.
It does feel like basketball fans would be on the losing side of the fight if the NBA and TNT indeed parted ways, though.
Inside the NBA is a one-of-a-kind sports entertainment show, as evidenced by ESPN's ongoing failure to come up with its own version of the program in recent years.
The NBA won't be the same without Kenny and Ernie trying to make sense of Shaq and Chuck's never-ending bickering every Tuesday night.
"It just felt familiar coming from a pro atmosphere," he added.
"I felt like it was a place I could see myself being a part of and a place I could contribute.
"Coach Smart doesn't sugarcoat anything for them. That got me.
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"I'm embracing being able to come back to the sport that started it all for me in my athletic career.
"It's been a great experience and I'm nothing but grateful."