By JAMES MADDEN
Four-star guard Jason Gardner Jr. is headed to play for Steven Pearl at Auburn, he announced on CBS Sports’ YouTube channel Monday.
A 6-foot-1 senior at Fishers HS (IN), Gardner chose the Tigers over DePaul, Florida, Indiana and Stanford.
“Ian Borders is the main guy that recruited me,” Gardner said on the live stream. “We talk, probably everyday. Steven (Pearl)… I was able to build a great connection with him. He texted me the day after he got the job, saying ‘I still want you to be over here on my team.’ I recently took a visit there and there were no flaws in the visit, besides leaving.”
The son of former Arizona star and European pro, Jason Gardner, he recently visited Auburn on Sept. 19 before taking his final visit to DePaul this past weekend and committing to the Tigers.
Previously speaking with ZAGSBLOG, Gardner takes pride in his ability to lead on the court and off, using the knowledge from his dad who also formerly served as the head coach at IUPUI (now IU Indy).
“I’m a leader, I’m not just a scoring guard,” he said. “I can to shoot the ball, obviously. I think I went 0-4 from three today. But just keep showing them that I’m not nervous to take them at all, having confidence.”
This past summer, Gardner spent another summer on the 3SSB circuit playing for Indiana Elite and was once again a standout, averaging 17.7 points, 4.3 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game.
“I want to go somewhere where they truly want me,” he said. “Obviously, I’m going to be around them like 90% of the time I’m in college. So I just feel like anytime something goes wrong, I want to be able to go talk to them and talk about the problem. I want to able to like — anything I need just to reach out to them and know they got me. So just having a great relationship.”
Gardner’s been a highly-coveted recruit in the class of 2027 throughout his high school career, as he’s been well-known since his freshman year. Now, he’s finally reached the end of his long commitment process as he’s set to join the Tigers and Pearl after his senior year at Fishers.
He’s Auburn’s first commit in the class of 2027 and is rated as the No. 67 overall prospect in his class, according to 247Sports.
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