BYU basketball gets commitment from 4-star transfer Marcus Adams Jr.
Less than a week after re-opening his recruitment, four-star transfer Marcus Adams Jr. verbally committed to the BYU basketball program on Saturday.
Adams went on an official visit to BYU on Monday and Tuesday earlier this week.
The 6-foot-8, 200-pound true freshman small forward from Harbor City, California, was rated a top 50 prospect in the 2023 recruiting class by 247 Sports.
He originally was a member of the 2024 class but reclassified to the 2023 class.
Adams signed with Kansas in April and attended summer workouts at Kansas before entering the transfer portal in July.
He then committed and signed to Gonzaga soon thereafter, but last Sunday, Adams told On3’s Joe Tipton he wouldn’t be enrolling at Gonzaga and instead would remain in the transfer portal.
Now, he’s committed to his third school before playing a minute of college basketball.
“A lot of people are wondering why I jumped around from school to school but it’s obviously for personal reasons and I can’t explain it just yet,” Adams told 247 Sports’ Dushawn London. “For me I was just trying to find the best place for me, not just playing wise but scholarly and personally.”
Adams also explained what stood out to him about BYU, one of the schools that reached out to him after he originally entered the transfer portal after leaving Kansas, per Tipton.
“Overall I wanted to go to BYU because it’s beautiful, the people are beautiful, and are probably some of the nicest people in the world,” Adams told 247 Sports. “They’re so kind, nice, respectful and they help support you. I just went on a visit for a long day and it was amazing. It’s a beautiful city and was a beautiful time.”
BYU had two open scholarships for the 2023-24 season after Ques Glover, a graduate transfer from Samford who signed with BYU in May, re-opened his recruitment and ended up signing with Kansas State.
Because Adams signed with both Kansas and Gonzaga, he will need to petition a waiver from the NCAA to become eligible to play in the 2023-24 season.
Vanquish the Foe’s Robby McCombs, who spoke with Adams about his visit, explained that because Adams enrolled at Kansas, he had to enter the transfer portal, as opposed to just being released from his national letter of intent. According to McCombs’ sources, though there’s optimism that Adams could receive the waiver and be eligible to play this season.
If he doesn’t, Adams would be forced to redshirt the upcoming season, BYU’s first in the Big 12 Conference.
“Hopefully we can get that waiver. We highly believe we can get that waiver done,” Adams told McCombs.
Adams averaged 28.8 points, 6.8 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game last season for Nathaniel Narbonne High, per Kansas when he signed with the school — that included three 40-point games and a 50-point, 21-rebound effort.
Kansas coach Bill Self described what he saw about Adams’ game when the young talent signed with his program.
“He’s a tall wing. He’s 6-foot-8 and can shoot the basketball. He had two games this year, one in which he made 11 3’s and the other which he made 13 3’s,” Self said in a statement from the school. “He’s good with the ball in his hands and can make plays for others as well. We think he is very underrated and a youngster that can find immediate minutes with the departure of our tall wings from last year.”
BYU will play at Kansas this season, though the league’s conference schedule has yet to be released.
