Any way you look at it, it’s been a big year for Jason Singleton.
Now the holder of more than a dozen scholarship offers to play Division I men’s basketball, the Columbus Academy senior has climbed the national recruiting rankings while helping the Vikings to a runner-up finish in the Division V state tournament.
He’s also grown at least two inches, currently checking in at a full 6 feet 4.
“Especially since this time last year, I feel like my athleticism has went up a lot, which catches people’s eyes,” Singleton said. “I feel like I’ve gotten smarter and stronger. I’ve gotten taller since last year, too. I just feel like I continually got better in the gym, and I feel like I’ve gotten a little bit better at everything.”
This time last year, Singleton was an unranked prospect in the 247Sports.com database. He received his first scholarship offer in October from Detroit Mercy. Nebraska soon followed suit. The addition of a Big Ten school to his list of suitors helped bring more attention, Singleton said, heading into what would be a significant junior season.
In a 53-49 state title-game loss to Cleveland Lutheran East, Singleton led all scorers with 27 points while pulling down nine rebounds and adding three steals and three assists and playing every second. He earned third-team all-state honors, averaging 13.2 points per game.
The added height made a difference as his year progressed, Singleton said.
“I’ve never really been the tallest kid,” he said. “Freshman year, I was 5-9, 5-10, so I’ve always had to, at the point guard role, read the defenses and stuff. Now that I’m 6-4, I can do all that stuff at a bigger height, so it gives opposing guards a hard challenge.”
After the title game, Eastern Michigan, Davidson and Creighton all offered. Then came a strong spring with his AAU club, Ohio Buckets, and a wave of new scholarship offers – Yale, Miami (Ohio), Harvard, DePaul, Dayton, Xavier.
Eventually, Ohio State came through with an offer on June 4.
Singleton’s ties to the Buckeyes are significant. Ohio State is right in Singleton’s backyard. The Schottenstein Center is just 14 miles away from his high school. Singleton’s father, Jason, played at Ohio State from 1995-99. In addition to averaging 8.6 points and 3.5 rebounds, the elder Singleton was a three-year starter and co-captain on the 1998-99 Final Four team.
Peruse the younger Jason Singleton’s posts on Instagram and you’ll see comments from his father’s former teammates, from George Reese to Scoonie Penn to Otis Winston. Other former Buckeyes such as Evan Turner and Evan Ravenel are there, too, expressing their support for the prep senior.
“It’s fun,” he said. “My dad’s still close with a lot of them. I talk to them a lot. They’re also good people who I can talk to about recruiting and listen to their process and ask different questions, but it’s good to hear from and have a different voice with them.”
Landing an offer from the Buckeyes was meaningful on multiple fronts for the younger Jason Singleton, who does not go by Jr.
“It feels good just to know that obviously it’s the hometown team that I grew up watching, going to games because of my dad,” he said. “I treat it the same as every other offer and don’t want to treat them any differently and put anybody else down, because everybody who’s given me a chance and a scholarship opportunity I feel grateful for, but yeah, they’re my hometown team and both my parents attended.”
Ohio State coach Jake Diebler is in daily contact, Singleton said.
“They treat me like a priority, which I feel like is good,” he said. “I feel like we have a good trust … I feel like it’s definitely going really well.”
After playing in the Midwest Live showcase event with Columbus Academy this weekend, Singleton will resume AAU basketball in July before turning his attention to visiting some of the schools recruiting him. The hope is to make a decision after taking a few more of those visits in the fall, he said. So far, he’s been to DePaul, Harvard, Ohio State, Princeton and Yale. A return trip to OSU is being planned.
Asked what he’s looking for in a school, Singleton said, “Relationships with the coaches. Make sure I trust them and they trust me and they have a real plan for me. I want to make sure I go somewhere that I can play early, but just really relationship with the coaches and make sure there’s trust on both sides.”
Jason Singleton debuted in the 247Sports rankings at No. 174 nationally on May 9. He’s now up to No. 93 and No. 5 in Ohio in the 2026 class.
“I’m grateful for it all,” he said. “I’ve seen people have their time before me and just stayed down. I’m just grateful and going to keep working.”
Ohio State has two commitments, both from Ohioans, in the 2026 class: four-star guard Marcus Johnson from Garfield Heights and three-star forward Alex Smith from Upper Arlington.
Ohio State men’s basketball beat writer Adam Jardy can be reached at ajardy@dispatch.com, on Bluesky at @cdadamjardy.bsky.social or on Twitter at @AdamJardy.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Year of growth leads Columbus Academy’s Jason Singleton to Ohio State scholarship offer
Reporting by Adam Jardy, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
