If you've been keeping up with Clemson basketball this offseason, you'd know that Brad Brownell has done one of the best jobs of any coach in the country.
After losing nine players from a team that went 27-7 and earned a 5-seed in the NCAA Tournament, everyone kind of assumed that Brownell's program would take a major step back. There was no way that he could replace the production of Chase Hunter, Ian Schieffelin, Viktor Lakhin, Jaeden Zackery, Chauncey Wiggins, and Del Jones adequately.
We were wrong.
Brownell hit the portal hard (again) and landed six guys in Efrem "Butta" Johnson, Nick Davidson, Carter Welling, RJ Godfrey, Jake Wahlin, and Jestin Porter to go along with a four-man freshman class which was led by four-star signee Zac Foster.
Foster began as a recruit listed as a three-star and close to No. 200 in the country, but he's improved drastically over the course of his high school career and he's now flirting with the top 50.
In fact, On3 updated its rankings and he jumped to No. 51 in the country and No. 15 at his position which is listed as shooting guard.
4 ⭐️ basketball signee @Zacfresh9 finishes 51st in the final On3 rankings 🐅 pic.twitter.com/adtiStdxgM
— Adam (@adamdropsbombs) April 28, 2025
It's been fun to watch his rise as he was at No. 192 in the country in June of 2024 when Clemson was recruiting him heavily and he was even at No. 71 on the composite rankings when he committed to the Tigers in November. Now, he's up to No. 61 in the 247Sports Composite and No. 51 on On3.
Outside of the six incoming transfers, it looks like Clemson will have an instant impact newcomer in the form of a freshman guard named Zac Foster.