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Michigan State lands five-star 2017 forward Jaren Jackson Jr.

Michigan State hauled in another important commitment on Thursday morning as five-star forward Jaren Jackson Jr. pledged to the Spartans.

The 6-foot-10, 220-pound Jackson is currently regarded as the No. 15 overall prospect in the Rivals Class of 2017 national rankings. A member of the gold-medal winning USA Basketball U17 World Championship team, Jackson was a breakout national performer on the Nike EYBL this spring with Spiece Indy Heat.

Jackson is the type of versatile forward who can knock down three-pointers but he also has some upside as a defender and rebounder. Not many players his size shoot 39 percent from three-point range and average nearly 2.0 blocks per game like Jackson did on the EYBL this spring and summer.

Michigan State’s Class of 2017 is now underway with Jackson and it gives the Spartans four five-star prospects in the last three classes after Deyonta Davis in 2015 and Miles Bridges and Joshua Langford in 2016. Tom Izzo has done a great job of adjusting his recruiting approach to targeting elite players and he’s been able to reload every year with potential one-and-done players the last few classes.

Jackson is an intriguing long-term prospect because he’s very young for his class (he committed on his 17th birthday today) and has a lot of skills that don’t come together too often in frontcourt players.