Izzo gets his stretch-four for '17

Tom Izzo and his staff made a floor-stretching power forward a top priority in the Class of 2017.

On Thursday morning, the Spartans gained a commitment from one of the nation’s best in La Lumiere School’s Jaren Jackson (6-10, 225), the No. 15 ranked player in the Rivals150.

"That we rank Jaren Jackson among the top 15 players in the country says plenty about where we see him as a prospect,” Rivals.com analyst Eric Bossi said. “However, I want to go deeper than that because I think of anybody in the five-star territory he may have the biggest ceiling for improvement. Over the last year he's grown a few inches and gone from a guy who teased with inside out ability to one that is consistently productive. He runs the floor, he has a great basketball frame and he can play in the post or facing the hoop. On top of that, he's just turning 17 years old today making him a full year young for the graduating senior class so I can't help but think he has an upside that some of his older classmates don't."

Jackson posted the following on Twitter.

The consensus five-star recruit selected the Spartans over finalists Purdue and Maryland.

"Tom Izzo and his staff are known for building strong relationships with recruits and their families and at the end of the day that's what happened,” Bossi said. “Other programs might have prioritized Jackson a bit earlier, but once they locked in on him and really made him the focal point of their recruiting the bond that they were able to build allowed them to overcome some lost time."

Jackson took unofficial visits to each of his finalists since end of the July evaluation period. During his visit to Michigan State in August, Michigan State stressed their need for a stretch four.

"I'd come in and play more of the 4 there," Jackson told Rivals.com after his visit. "That's what Coach (Tom) Izzo told me, that they have a lot of key players that they can play all over the place because of their versatility, like Miles (Bridges) and Josh Langford. He'd want me to come in and be aggressive and do whatever I can to help them win."

Jackson is the first five-star player from Indiana signed by the Spartans since Izzo and his staff, beat out Indiana, Purdue, and Kentucky for the signature of Gary Harris, the No. 25 ranked prospect in the 2012 Rivals150.

Jackson’s other noteworthy offers include Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Georgetown, Butler, Xavier, Notre Dame, Alabama, and Texas among others.