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Clemson basketball is interested in a two-sport star from Illinois

By Tyreese Ingram

SAN DIEGO, CA - MARCH 18: The Clemson Tigers bench celebrates as they take on the Auburn Tigers in the second half during the second round of the 2018 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Viejas Arena on March 18, 2018 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Donald Miralle/Getty Images)
SAN DIEGO, CA - MARCH 18: The Clemson Tigers bench celebrates as they take on the Auburn Tigers in the second half during the second round of the 2018 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Viejas Arena on March 18, 2018 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Donald Miralle/Getty Images) /
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Clemson basketball is showing some interest in forward Tom Welch from Illinois. 

Tom Welch, a Naperville North High power forward from Naperville, IL, currently has offers from Ball State, Belmont, Bucknell, Canisius, Fordham, Furman, Kent State, Loyola-Chicago, Miami(Ohio), Wofford, etc.

He doesn’t have an offer from a Power Five conference school, but Clemson, Ole Miss, Kansas State and others have expressed interest in him. Last year, Welch averaged 13.7 points, 6.6 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.4 blocks per game and led Naperville North to a 26-5 overall record.

Welch is a power forward/center for the Wolves, and power forward or small forward could be his positions in college. At 6-foot-7 and 200 pounds, he is an athletic combo forward who plays with grit and smarts. As a player, position aside, Welch can score on post ups, drives to the basket, filling the lanes on the break and shooting the ball(38 percent on threes).

He is currently playing with the Illinois Wolves 17U on the AAU circuit and on Wednesday, he scored 21 points and grabbed seven rebounds in the Wolves 64-53 win over Skills Center Elite. With more games like that, he could possibly see more offers and perhaps, his first major offer.

Sun-Times Media is covering the AAU tournament and reporter Joe Hendrickson said this about Welch’s recruitment.

“Just from the conversations I’ve had with college coaches in the past two months, there will be several high-major programs taking a peek at Welch this July as he plays out the month with the Illinois Wolves.”

That’s what he does on the basketball court, now let’s look at the other sport, soccer.

Welch has been a goalkeeper for two years and in that time span, the school has a 48-3-4 record and two state championships.

In 2017-18, the team finished 27-1-1, and he had 19 shutouts. Within the 19 shutouts, were streaks of 8 and 7 during the regular season and playoffs, respectively, and those streaks plus his overall dominance helped him become the Illinois Gatorade Player of the Year.

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But even with all of his accomplishments in soccer, Welch isn’t, presently, interested in pursuing a career in the sport and hasn’t accepted any offers from colleges, so look for him to accept a basketball scholarship for 2019.

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