USC signee Jerry Easter talks about receiving offers from "sixth, seventh grade" to finally signing for Eric Musselman's Trojans

No. 39 recruit in the Class of 2025 (as per On3's Industry Rankings), Jerry Easter, signed for the USC Trojans on Nov. 25. Easter also led his team, Link Academy, to the 2025 Chipotle High School National Championship tournament after securing the Nike EYBL tournament.

In a YouTube video posted by Sports Stars of Tomorrow on Wednesday, the 6-foot-4 combo guard talked about how he felt when he started receiving scholarship offers from colleges:

"It was good obviously. I didn't really think about like offers, I was just trying to work hard. I was getting offers in my freshman and sophomore year and obviously before that, in seventh grade, sixth, but yeah sixth, seventh grade, that's when I got my first offer," said Easter. (8:44 - 9:03)

Jerry Easter also claimed that the process felt real when he started receiving phone calls from college coaches:

"My junior year, when college coaches are able to call you and get your phone number that's what I was like, this is the real deal, they're calling me and obviously just saying like they like my game and want to offer me so it was obviously a blessing from all the coaches, they gave me those offers and saying they took the time to watch me play and they like my game and offer me," Easter continued. (9:06 - 9:20)

Jerry Easter is ranked at the second spot in the combo guard position and in Missouri. The Link Academy player received interest from 30 programs, according to On3. These include offers from Michigan State, Ohio State, Georgia Tech, SMU and Vanderbilt, among others.

Jerry Easter's recruitment process also involved him taking official visits to Georgia Tech on Sep. 9, 2023, Oregon on Mar. 8, SMU on Sep. 21, Ohio State on Oct. 5, Vanderbilt on Oct. 10 and USC on Oct. 27.

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Jerry Easter's high school career journey

Jerry Easter started his high school basketball journey at Emmanuel Christian in 2022. In his freshman season, Easter played 14 matches and averaged a double double with 25.0 points, 10.4 rebounds, 5.3 assists, five steals and 0.4 blocks per game. He led the school to a 14-6 overall and a 7-4 record in the Ohio Section Toledo Area Basketball League.

He transferred to La Lumiere School in 2023 and finished the season with a 22-5 overall and a 6-4 record in the Florida Section Nike Elite Youth Scholastic Basketball League. His senior year saw him play at Link Academy, where he averaged 9.6 ppg, 4.9 apg, 4.2 rpg, 1.7 spg and 0.4 bpg.

Jerry Easter will be joined by Alijah Arenas and Elzie Harrington at Eric Musselman's side next season.