Fresh off a state championship victory, Jacksonville (Ala.) School 2023 guard John Broom was on campus and in attendance for Clemson’s 63-59 win over Virginia Tech this past Saturday at Littlejohn Coliseum.
Catching up with The Clemson Insider on Sunday night, Broom considered this past weekend to be one of the best in his life, or in the top-3, as he put it.
“The visit was really, really good,” Broom said. “It wasn’t my first time going, I’d been to a football game and I visited most of the basketball facilities and all that. But, I really liked it. I liked the atmosphere of the game. I liked the coaches. I liked pretty much everything about it. It was really just a nice feel.”
Following the game, Broom picked up an offer from the Tigers and so did his best friend and teammate, four-star Cade Phillips. Broom walked us through how he ultimately learned about his offer from the Tigers.
“We had spoken with Coach (Brad) Brownell before the game,” Broom said, “and then he told us that he’d talk to us after the game. After the game, we went into this little conference room and we talked for about 15 minutes and then he extended the offer to me. I was really excited about the offer. It was an offer that I’ve honestly been waiting on.”
What did that mean to Broom?
“It felt really good, I’m not gonna lie,” he said. “It’s not all the time that you and your teammate and your best friend are getting offered at the same time by a really good basketball school in the ACC. We both were really excited about it.”
Broom said that in his conversations with Clemson’s coaches, they primarily talked about the championship game and how it felt.
“It felt really, really good because we’re the first team to do it in our high school,” he said. “So we’re pretty much in the history books for that. It really felt great because all my teammates, we all grew up together — even Cade — he transferred from a different school. But, we all grew up just talking about winning a state championship when we got older. It felt like a dream and then it came true.”
After he cut down the nets with his teammates, Broom hung out with a couple of his friends from the team. Before he knew it, he was on the road to Clemson at 7 a.m. Saturday morning.
What was different about this unofficial visit compared to one he took back in October?
“It was definitely different because I was with the coaches a lot more during the football game, but I was with the coaches a lot before the game and then we watched the game,” Broom said. “I really liked the playstyle they played in. It really fits me well. I like the intensity they all play with and that nobody on the team is selfish, there’s a lot of ball movement.”
Broom sees himself as a guard that can run the 1 and the 2 while shooting the ball at an efficient rate. He estimates that he shot at least 50% from beyond the arc this season. All in all, he’s a self-described all-around player who can shoot the lights out of the ball and defend really well.
He’s a fan of the way Clemson utilizes its guards. The Tigers oftentimes expect a lot from their guards defensively, which tends to give them more freedom on the offensive end.
“I really love the confidence and the confidence the coaches give them, honestly,” he said. “But, yes, I do love that the coaches do dial hard on defense and if you’re not playing defense, then you’re probably not gonna play. I really like that about them.”
Is Broom looking forward to getting back to Clemson soon?
“Oh, definitely,” he said. “Definitely. It’s a great place to be.”
Blessed to receive an offer from Clemson University @Coach_Brownell @JvilleHoops pic.twitter.com/ed6LxopPeK
— john broom (@johnbroom3) March 5, 2022
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