Xavier June recruiting roundup

The Xavier Musketeers are enjoying their life in the Big East.

After a trip to the Elite Eight this past season, the Musketeers are primed to have another terrific season in 2017. The optimism mostly centers around a recruiting class that ranks 11th in the country and first in the Big East. It took just four years for Xavier to ascend to the top of the conference’s recruiting rankings, as they’ve more than established themselves as one of the best teams in the land.

In order to keep that ball rolling, the trends must continue for 2018 and 2019 and beyond. It looks like Chris Mack and his staff appear ready to doll out another solid class if things turn out their way.

Cole Swider is a name to watch, as Swider recently visited the Xavier campus. After he named the Musketeers among his final four schools, there seems to be heavy interest from both sides. Whether a commitment is on its way for Swider is yet to be seen, but he’s now wrapped up his visits to X, Villanova, Syracuse and Duke. Should Mack land yet another four-star player, his 2018 class will get off to a great start.

Two other 2018 prospects kept Xavier in mind when cutting down their lists recently. Eric Hunter Jr. of Indianapolis and Jerome Hunter of Pickerington, Ohio kept the Musketeers in their Top 6 and Top 5 recently. In the case of Eric Hunter, Xavier will be jostling with fellow Big East peer Butler as well as a few others from the Big Ten, and the same can be said about their chase for Jerome Hunter. We’ll see if the Muskies can make serious traction for either, or both, going forward for what would be two pretty terrific gets.

Xavier also has 2019 in mind as they offered three players in the class this past month. The best of the bunch was St. Louis’ Mario McKinney Jr., a Top 100 prospect who’s made plenty of waves recently. You’ll likely hear McKinney’s name come up more in the future as he ranks as one of the best players in the Show Me State. The two others offered by Xavier were Trayce Jackson-Davis and Mark Watts. Watts is a point guard from Detroit (the last one from the Motor City worked out just fine for Xavier) while Jackson-Davis is a native of Indiana, a state that Mack has had no problem recruiting in the past (see: Scruggs, Paul and Bluiett, Trevon).

Time will tell to see if Xavier can make the splashes needed. If June was any indication though, they may be on the precipice of doing just that if things go their way.