Is Brendan Tucker the next late-bloomer from Georgia
Over the past few years, the state of Georgia has produced some pretty notable prospects who didn't earn notoriety until later in their recruitment, is junior point guard Brendan Tucker the next breakout star from the Peach State?
In 2015, current Denver Nugget shooting guard Malik Beasley emerged later in the process. It took until the latter half of his junior year for Alabama's star freshman Collin Sexton to hit the national radar. An explosive athlete off to a sizzling start to his junior season, Tucker could be headed down a similar path.
Georgia became his first high-major offer right before Thanksgiving and Clemson jumped in with an offer on Tuesday night. Georgia Tech has shown a lot of interest. Previously, he had collected offers from UAB, Florida Gulf Coast, College of Charleston and Kennesaw State.
IN HIS OWN WORDS
Tucker talked about his newest offers and some schools he would like to hear from.
Clemson: “Clemson is good. They have a nice coaching staff and the facilities are good. They have a nice team and a nice arena.”
Georgia: “They are really good people. I’ve been getting recruited by them since like the 8th grade, so I know them pretty well. I talk to Coach Jonas Hayes. He just talks to me about keeping Georgia on my mind and trying to get me to go there.”
Georgia Tech: “They’ve been talking to my mom a little bit. They’ve done well so far with Coach [Josh] Pastner.”
On schools he’d like to hear from: “I’d like to hear from UConn, Syracuse, Kansas, Florida and some California schools. Those are some schools I’ve been watching since I was young.”
RIVALS' REACTION
Comparing Tucker to Malik Beasley and Collin Sexton, a first round pick in the 2016 NBA Draft and a likely high lottery pick in the 2018 NBA Draft, doesn’t mean he’s going to follow in their footsteps with a quick stint in college before leaving for the NBA. But he will likely join them in becoming nationally known prospect over the next year. Clemson and Georgia will be the first of many high-major offers for him, and both programs were smart to get involved early, especially given their proximity to him.
Tucker said he’s not going to be rushing into a decision and plans to play out the travel season before making a decision. He did mention he’s going to be attending a few Georgia games and plans to be back at Clemson soon as well.