Brad Brownell is entering his 10th season with the Clemson Tigers. He brings back a solid roster to compete in the ACC, as well as bringing in two highly rated freshmen in 6-10 PJ Hall and 6-7 Olivier-Maxence Prosper.
In recent weeks, Brownell has offered three highly rated guards. Jordan Hawkins, 6-5 170 SG, led Dematha Catholic High School to a 30-3 record and the top team in the state of Maryland. He is ranked as the #2 player in the state of Maryland and the #12 shooting guard in the nation. To date, Hawkins only has 10 offers, but they include Louisville, Marquette, Seton Hall and Xavier.
D’Marco Dunn, 6-4 180 SG, recently transferred from Tucson, Arizona, to the basketball rich state of North Carolina. All he did was lead his team to a 30-0 record, while scoring 20.4 points a game, 2.0 assists, 7.2 rebounds, and 2.7 steals a game. He has received 20 offers to date, including Vanderbilt, VCU and Xavier.
The most unheralded recent offer is Josh Beadle out of Cardinal Newman high school in Columbia, SC. Beadle led his team to a 22-10 record, scoring 16.9 points a game, with 3.8 assists and 6.2 rebounds. He is currently unrated, according to 247, but with a solid senior season, the 6-3 170 shooting guard should garner more attention. Currently, he has 14 offers, to include Wake Forest, VCU and Saint Louis.
Clemson is a football school, that is well known. Basketball recruiting has never been ranked with the elite. In recent years, Coach Brownell has leaned heavily on the transfer portal in recent years. For Clemson’s basketball program to move forward, high school recruiting needs to pick up. Bringing in Hall and Prosper is a step in the right direction. To date, Clemson has offered 20 players for the 2021 class. Of the 20 offers, only 3 have committed elsewhere, so Clemson is in play with the others.
Clemson ranked 45th in recruiting in 2020. Nine ACC teams ranked higher in the 2020 recruiting rankings. In the 2019 class, with 3 recruits, Clemson ranked 43rd in the country. Eight ACC teams ranked higher. What has to change? Maybe a PJ Hall will get the ball rolling. The last 5-star basketball recruit for Clemson was Milton Jennings out of Summerville, SC….in the 2009 class.
