UW Signee Jackson Grant Named McDonald's All-American

The Olympia forward is the ninth Husky player to receive the prestigious honor.

Dan Raley | Feb 23, 2021

The University of Washington basketball team badly lacks frontline scoring, which puts undue pressure on its guard-oriented lineup to compensate and has outsiders wondering how the Huskies intend to fix this.

If nothing else, Jackson Grant has burgeoning credentials that suggest he might be of significant help next season.

On Tuesday, the 6-foot-10 Olympia High School forward was selected as a McDonald's All-American — the ninth Husky basketball player to receive this prestigious honor, signifying him as one of the nation's best.

Unfortunately for Grant, he won't participate in the McDonald's all-star game, which has been canceled for a second consecutive year because of the global pandemic.

As a junior at Olympia High, Grant averaged 17 points and 11 rebounds per game, both areas that need to be rectified by the Huskies for the 2021-22 season.

Currently for the UW, 6-foot-9 senior starter Hameir Wright averages a modest 5.6 points and 4.2 rebounds per game, and 6-11 sophomore starter Nate Roberts chips in 5.2 and 5.7 points per game, respectively.

Grant has been a steady AAU and national-team player. He plays for the Washington Supreme. For USA Basketball, he took part in the men's junior national team camp and minicamp in 2019.

Previous players who came to the UW program with McDonald's All-American honors include Jaden McDaniels and Isaiah Stewart (2019); Quade Green (2017); Markelle Fultz (2016); Nigel Williams-Goss (2013); Abdul Gaddy (2009), Spencer Hawes (2006) and Jon Brockman (2005).

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Published Feb 23, 2021

DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.