Clemson’s men’s basketball team got its guy.
For multiple reasons, Clemson coach Brad Brownell said he quickly zeroed in on former Princeton guard Jaelin Llewellyn once he entered the transfer portal after this past season. One was Llewellyn’s talent, which he used to earn first-team all-Ivy League honors. Another was Brownell’s familiarity with Llewellyn after initially recruiting the native Canadian out of high school.
There were other connections, too. One of Brownell’s former assistants, Antonio Reynolds Dean – who just left Clemson to take over as Georgia’s associate head coach – was a college teammate of Llewellyn’s father, Cordell, at the University of Rhode Island. Brownell also knew of the younger Llewellyn from his time as assistant at UNC Wilmington for Jerry Wainwright, who helped coach Llewellyn’s father at Wake Forest early in his college career.
“Jaelin was the guy that was kind of the No. 1 target from the start at the position that had the most need,” Brownell said.
Clemson’s pursuit of the highly coveted transfer paid off this time around as Llewellyn signed with the Tigers earlier this week. He currently has one year of eligibility remaining, though a source said it’s possible Clemson could apply for a waiver in the future to try to get an additional year back for Llewellyn since the 2019-20 season, which was cut short because of the coronavirus pandemic, counted against his eligibility at Princeton (the Ivy League canceled its men’s and women’s basketball seasons that year before the NCAA made the decision to grant all student-athletes an additional year of eligibility).
Llewellyn averaged 15.7 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.6 assists as a junior for the Tigers this past season. He scored even more (16.3 per game) against high-major teams like South Carolina, Minnesota and Cal and was one of the Ivy League’s best shooters from deep, knocking down 38.3% of his 3-pointers. At 6-foot-2 – four inches taller than former starting point guard Nick Honor – Lewellyn also brings the kind of size to the position that Brownell said he was looking to add alongside Chase Hunter and Alex Hemenway, who are both returning to Clemson’s backcourt.
“Jaelin is appealing because he can do a couple of different things,” Brownell said. “He’s had big scoring games if you need him to score. He’s had other games where he can get six assists if he needs to do that.”
But with Honor, Al-Amir Dawes (transfer) and David Collins (eligibility exhausted) gone, Clemson is losing three of its top five scorers along with a significant chunk of its backcourt rotation. Llewellyn’s addition is a start, but Clemson still has needs to address there with two scholarships still available.
The Tigers have an incoming freshman with size and versatility in 6-6 combo guard Chauncey Gibson, but Brownell said Clemson will look to add an experienced wing from the portal. Wichita State transfer Dexter Dennis fits that bill. The 6-5, 210-pounder started all 28 games for the Shockers this past season, averaging 8.4 points and 5.0 rebounds, and is reportedly set to visit Clemson next week.
Max Klesmit, who started 33 games the last two seasons at Wofford, is also considering Clemson along with South Carolina, Vanderbilt and Colorado State. Klesmit averaged 14.9 points a season ago, including a season-high 27 against the Gamecocks back in November.
He also shot 34% from 3-point range, something Clemson needs to replace since the Tigers are losing their top long-range shooter from a percentage standpoint (Dawes). Honor and Dawes were also Clemson’s primary ball handlers, but Brownell said he feels good about his team’s point guard situation now that Llewellyn is on board.
“We have some versatility in our lineup, so we could do some different things if something really caught our eye,” Brownell said.
Part of it, too, is Brownell’s belief in Josh Beadle, a freshman guard who’s coming off a redshirt season amid. The 6-3, 180-pounder, who played his high school ball at Cardinal Newman in Columbia, could play on or off the ball, but Brownell said he’s expecting Beadle to play the majority of his minutes at the point next season.
“You guys haven’t seen Josh, but we’ve been working with Josh on (playing the point),” Brownell said. “He’s kind of a combo guard per se, and he’s got good ability. He’s 6-3. He’s athletic. … We’re excited about Josh.”
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