Four-star 2018 guard Jordan Lathon commits to Northwestern

Northwestern may have found the heir to four-year starter Bryant McIntosh’s throne, landing 2018 four-star guard Jordan Lathon of Grandview, Missouri. He announced his commitment on Twitter.

Lathon is an athletic point guard and is ranked as the 23rd-best point guard and 151st player in his class, per 247 Sports’ composite rankings, which gives him a four-star rating. Scout and Rivals have Lathon as a three-star recruit, although the latter ranks him within its top 130 players in the 2018 class. He picked Northwestern shortly after taking an official visit June 20th, choosing the Wildcats over Iowa State, Butler, Wake Forest, and most importantly, Illinois. Although they did not crack his top five, Lathon also boasted offers from Air Force, Boise State, Colorado, DePaul, FGCU, and Tulsa.

At 6-foot-4 and 175 pounds (Rivals lists him at 175, while 247 has him at 190), Lathon has great size for the point guard position. He averaged 16.5 points, seven rebounds and five assists per game this past year and led Grandview High School to a 24-5 overall record. Lathon underwent wrist surgery this month and will remain out all of July. While he’ll miss at least part of summer ball, Lathon should certainly be healthy for his senior season. It’s also worth noting that Grandview produced former Colorado standout and Utah Jazz guard Alec Burks, who earned Gatorade Player of the Year honors in high school.

This is a very important commit for Chris Collins, who will need to replace McIntosh, Scottie Lindsey and Gavin Skelly in the 2018-2019 season. The 2018 class is the first that will play all four years in the renovated Welsh-Ryan Arena, and Lathon will likely get the opportunity to immediately contribute as a true freshman. Lathon’s commitment comes on the heels of Pat Baldwin’s hiring as head coach of UW-Milwaukee, as well as top Northwestern target Cormac Ryan’s commitment to Stanford in early June.

Expect Collins and his staff to stay active on the recruiting trail. Morgan Park point guard Ayo Dosunmu seems like more of a long shot with Lathon’s commitment, but fellow Chicagoan and Simeon forward Talen Horton-Tucker (who also visited on June 20th) remains a priority. Four-star forward Pete Nance is a top target as well; Northwestern, Michigan and Ohio State are his top three as of now, and he will visit Evanston officially June 27.