5-Star SG Prospect Ja’Kobe Walter Commits to Baylor Over Alabama, Auburn, More

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The Baylor Bears scored a major recruiting victory Wednesday.

Ja’Kobe Walter, who is a 5-star prospect and the No. 1 shooting guard in the class of 2023 according to 247Sports’ composite rankings, chose the Bears from a final list that included Texas, Auburn and Alabama.

“I decided to end my recruitment because at first it’s exciting but as time goes on it starts to become more difficult,” Walter said, per Jeff Borzello and Paul Biancardi of ESPN. “The recruiting process was starting to get repetitive.”

Walter will share the Baylor backcourt with fellow 2023 commit Miro Little, who is a 4-star prospect. Little is a point guard who will surely be tasked with facilitating, while Walter is a shooting guard who can score in a variety of ways.

The new commit can attack off the bounce, score from mid-range and hit from three-point range. He is averaging 22.9 points and 4.4 rebounds per game for Team Trae Young on the Adidas circuit and has connected on approximately 37.0 percent of his triples.

Those types of numbers would help Baylor continue its winning ways.

“The winning history under coach (Scott) Drew and who he has put in the league,” he said when explaining his decision. “He is a super high-energy guy. I have never seen him have a bad day. I like the way he builds confidence in his players.”

Drew has been Baylor’s head coach since the 2003-04 campaign and has a 419-233 record with 10 NCAA tournament appearances. His Bears won the national championship in 2021 and likely would have been a contender in 2020 had the Big Dance not been canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Baylor went 26-4 that season.

The program has won the last two Big 12 regular-season titles and will likely continue this run of success if it lands prospects like Walter on the recruiting trail.