Updated Class of 2022 Rankings: FREE Overview

Jack Herron

December 30, 2020 @ 01:51 PM

There were quite a few changes in the top 10 as expected, as we’ve not only had some shake ups but some new names added. Oak Hill Academy brought in two nationally ranked juniors that are leading their teams and come in at the top with 6’6” MJ Rice coming in at #1 and 6’8” Jalen Reed Jalen Reed 6'9" | PF Oak Hill Academy | 2022 VA coming in at #2. Nationally ranked Justin Taylor Justin Taylor 6'5" | SG IMG Academy | 2022 State #156 Nation FL moves up from 6 to #3 after a year of development. What’s insane about this class is the number of players that are nationally ranked in the class. The top 9 prospects can be seen in the national rankings in at least one of the major four rankings, and there are a few that are on the border as well.

Regional Differences

It’s fun to look at how the different regions produce different type of players, and this 2022 class is one that seems very different than the others.

Take for instance the Hampton Roads or the “757” region. While they have athletes and players at all positions, they’re especially heavy in the guards up top as they have 5 guards in the top 25 overall rankings.

Meanwhile, in the Richmond or the “804” area, there are a lot of wings and hybrid forwards with 5 of those in the top 25 overall prospects. The same can be said about the western part of the state which has 5 total prospects in the top 10, all of them being versatile wings and bigs with good size.

The Northern VA area is probably the most balanced in the rankings, with a host of players at multiple positions and sizes throughout the top 30.

Tons of New Names

As with most of our rankings, we like to expand them each year as we see more and more players. For the Class of 2022 rankings, we had originally ranked 60 prospects when they were heading into their sophomore campaign, and have now expanded that list to 125 prospects. We will do in depth break downs of all of the new players added to the rankings throughout the next week.

Positional Breakdown

PG: 25

CG: 20

SG: 19

SF: 21

PF: 31

C: 10

Top 10

1) MJ Rice	6’6″ SF	Oak Hill Academy
2) Jalen Reed Jalen Reed 6'9" \| PF Oak Hill Academy \| 2022 VA	6’8″ PF	Oak Hill Academy
3) Justin Taylor Justin Taylor 6'5" \| SG IMG Academy \| 2022 State #156 Nation FL	6’6″ SF	St. Anne’s Belfield
4) Jayden Epps Jayden Epps 6'1" \| CG Combine Academy \| 2022 State #41 Nation NC	6’1″ PG	King’s Fork
5) Maliq Brown Maliq Brown 6'8" \| PF Blue Ridge \| 2022 State #123 Nation VA	6’8″ PF	Blue Ridge
6) DJ Hand	6’4″ SG	Landstown
7) Tyler Nickel Tyler Nickel 6'8" \| SF East Rockingham \| 2022 State #85 Nation VA	6’7″ WF	East Rockingham
8) Knasir McDaniel Knasir McDaniel 5'9" \| PG Paul VI Cathlolic (VA) \| 2022 State #126 Nation VA	5’9″ PG	Paul VI
9) Alphonzo Billups Alphonzo Billups 6'7" \| SF Varina \| 2022 State #154 Nation VA	6’6″ SF	Varina
10) Efrem ‘Butta’ Johnson Efrem ‘Butta’ Johnson 6'4" \| NA lbs \| SG Grissom \| 2022 State #NA Nation AL	6’4″ CG	Western Branch