It’s hard to describe just how big this past weekend was for a guy like Solomon Ball.
The 6-3, 185-pound combo guard out of St. James School (Sharpsburg, MD.) raised his stock with an impressive showing during the Nike EYBL in Orlando. Ball’s performance this past weekend culminated in offers from Clemson, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, Pitt, Providence, Illinois and George Mason.
“It was a big one,” he told The Clemson Insider regarding this past weekend’s performance. “I think most importantly, we won all four games and I was able to produce in all four games and that was a big contribution to why my recruitment just skyrocketed. It does change the path that I take and how long I may take to commit and stuff, but I’m just taking this stuff day by day. I think I had a pretty good performance. There’s always much more that I can do.
“I would’ve never imagined that it would’ve happened this fast. I’m just really blessed to be in its position. I know how much work I put in. I know how much work my parents put in and all my trainers to help me be where I am today.”
Ball was offered by Clemson assistant coach Dick Bender on Sunday, April 10.
“He just loved my willingness to win and my willingness to just compete, play hard, do whatever it takes for my team to win,” Ball said. “Although I shot over 50% for the session, there were parts in the game where my shot wasn’t falling and I would just crash the glass and do other stuff to help my team win and he really liked my effort.”
What was his reaction to finding out about the Clemson offer?
“It was pretty big because although I got Virginia Tech right before, getting Clemson after that, it was a really big deal,” he said. “It was right before one of my last games on Sunday when we played Team Herro and it just carried into my performance and I finished out the tournament. It just kept me motivated.”
This isn’t the start of Ball’s relationship with Clemson. He has been talking to assistant coaches Kareem Richardson and Lucas McKay since February.
“They’ve been recruiting me for a little bit,” Ball said. “It seemed like I was really building a relationship with them. It just shows that they really believe in me as a person and as a player.”
Ball says that he would definitely want to get down and visit Clemson and it’s just a matter of time at this point.
“I’m definitely looking forward to building that relationship and I have three coaches on the coaching staff that I can text and just talk to if anything is ever up,” he said. “I just want to learn more about Clemson.”
Seeing how he would fit in at Clemson, Ball’s a fan of the way the Tigers utilize their guards. Clemson oftentimes expects a lot from its guards defensively, which tends to give them more freedom on the offensive end.
“That’s definitely my kind of style of play,” Ball said. “If a coach is relying on us to be able to play defense how a player’s capable of and just have that freedom on offense, it just gives a sign of building confidence and that confidence comes from the defensive end. When you’re giving effort on one side, you’re gonna put in the same amount of effort on the other.”
Ball describes himself as a three-level scorer, who has a 45-inch vertical and can guard positions 1-5 on the court.
He says that teams at the next level view him as a combo guard, who can guard just about anybody on the court. In his last game against Team Herro, the opposing team’s leading scorer was averaging 28 points per game and Ball held him to 11 points on 4-of-19 shooting from the field.
— Photo courtesy of @soloball1 on Instagram
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