Rivals150 junior Elijah Tucker picking up steam

With the news of William Jeffress reclassifying into the 2020 class, a spot was created to move a new prospect into the 2021 Rivals150. Averaging 20 points and around 10 rebounds per game this year, including a recent 30-point, 11-rebound performance, Elijah Tucker earned it.

The 6-foot-7 combo forward out of Cherokee High School (Canton, Ga.) has steadily improved over the past 18 months and collected several scholarship offers along the way from schools such as Georgia Tech, Iowa, Northwestern, Richmond, St. John’s and VCU. Clemson and Georgia have been showing increased interest lately as well.

Tucker was on campus at Georgia Tech on Wednesday night as the Yellow Jackets scored an upset over Louisville. He’s already visited Georgia Tech for workouts last summer. He attended Tennessee’s elite camp last summer, which is where both of his parents were athletes (mother played basketball, dad played football and later played in the NFL).

Tucker discussed some of the schools that he's seen or has ties to.

Clemson: “They have come to two games and two or three practices. They have been saying the same thing as Georgia about just improving my perimeter skills.”

Georgia: “They have come to a couple practices and a game. They have been talking about me getting my ball handling better and becoming more of a perimeter player because that’s what I’d play in college. I’ve talked to all the assistants so far.”

Georgia Tech: “One of their players, Jordan Usher, I used to train with him. I still keep in touch with him. I went over there for a couple workouts during the summer and it was cool.”

Tennessee: “I haven’t really heard from them yet. I just went to their elite camp last summer. I would treat them the same as every other school. I did grow up going to games up there, a bunch of football and basketball games. I like it up there.”

It’s still early in the process for Tucker as schools are still jumping into his recruitment every week. He says he plans on holding off on a decision until some point in his senior year. The schools he discussed above will all be factors in his recruitment but look for more schools to jump into the mix this summer.

Tucker is what many college programs are looking for in a four man in today’s game. He’s big enough and strong enough to play inside and he’s tough on the boards, but he’s skilled enough offensively to play both inside and outside. His improvement since the beginning of his sophomore year has been impressive. If he continues to progress at that rate over the next six months, look for the race for his signature to get pretty hot leading into his senior year.