Virginia Tech and Mike Young pick up a commitment from Memphis transfer John Camden.The 6-8, 208-pound forward was a three-star prospect out of high school. Was limited with the Tigers in 2021-22, but is a solid talent to add to the #Hokies' frontcourt. https://t.co/zFNGbSjQgwβ David Cunningham (@therealdcunna) April 25, 2022
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Fantastic, need all the help filling out the frontcourt. How many years of eligibility are we talking here?
Should be 3 years of eligibility since this past season was his freshman year.
EDIT: 4 years of eligibility, assuming he gets a medical redshirt.
I think he might have qualified for a redshirt? Believe he was hurt and only played like 5 minutes
Ah yep that should qualify for a medical redshirt then lol
Great pick-up for Hokie hoops. Sadly, the NCAA doesn't approve these types of medical redshirt approvals for VT players. /s
What's his ACT score? I bet it's too high
Four... Literally played like 3 minutes last year. So should be R-Fr next year
There's one of the anticipated frontcourt additions!
What's the scouting report on this kid? Will he be an immediate contributor or will this be a Lynn Kidd like situation?
People on twitter claim we're in the mix for Efton Reid, center from LSU. Averaged 6 and 4 in 20 mpg in his freshman year.
From a Memphis fan in the Reddit thread:
Somewhere in between. He's got good talent, injury derailed him from showing that. He should play more than Kidd did this past year. But I don't think he wows you right off the bat (if that's what you mean by immediate contributor). My guess is they'll start him off slow and he'll give more of a contribution as the season goes on off the bench.
(edit: a word)
6-7 and can shoot the 3. Yes, please.
Side note: was this the "center piece" that the tweet on the recruiting thread was referring to?
No
Efton Reid would be the 5 star center transferring out of LSU, originally from Richmond.
Yeah that's the big name out there right now, and the one we seem to have a lot of positive vibes around
I can't help but wonder whether Nolley put in a good word for us.
Does his highlights remind anyone else of Brady Manek? That's the vibe I got from him, even down to the shooting motion.
I was thinking Danny Coale
real heady guy - first one in, last one out - sneaky fast - cerebral - etc.
deceptively athletic
As long as he doesn't morph into a caveman, I'm cool with that
At first I read this as Cavman and imagined him falling off a horse in Cassel, equally horrifying.
The good news is he appears to have shed the gangly high school center body so a free year in a D1 conditioning program will benefit him down low. I project him more in a backup role to Nguessan as a small forward assuming Mutts doesn't return. He definitely has the offensive ability to score at all three levels. There is less tape on his defensive capabilities in terms of perimeter defense due to his role in high school as a pure center. I hope his injury healed correctly, when it first happened Hardaway downplayed the injury, essentially saying he was day to day, so the fact he missed the season is concerning. If he is healthy he should contribute next season off the bench in a 10-12 minutes per game role if his defense is good enough. He has already received the medical redshirt so will have four years of eligibility.
I really like this transfer as its a 4 year potential and hes got good offensive game which is something I felt the team lacked at times and the more shooters we have will help a ton. Even if its just 10-12 minutes off the bench if he can score a few points a la Maddox style and give us some bonus points it will make us a better team not to mention his height.
I seen somewhere were it said that he's gonna play the 4
mmmm...maybe on defense
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kv7HfWRaLJA&t=258s
https://www.hudl.com/video/3/14836574/603299ff5ef7050c6cd6acf5
So will N'Guessan, so Camden can still be his backup. Have to imagine we will run with three guards in most sets. Assuming Mutts doesn't return, maybe we start something like: Pedulla-Cattoor-Maddox-N'Guessan-transfer(Reid?). If we want to run big, we can put N'Guessan or Camden at the 3 (if N'Guessan improves his jump shot).
absolutely shocked if nguessan plays (i.e. guards) SF, same for camden (at least this season).
this position stuff is pretty dumb anyway. keve was a pf playing as the vt big, with nguessan often giving him a breather.
the way vt and many colleges are set up, you play 1 pg, 1 big and the 3 others are fairly interchangeable guard/wings.
currently on the roster, i would say vt has 1 true pg, 2 combo guards, 2 bigs and mix of wings with differing skillsets, both on o and d.
Assuming we add Reid:
C: Reid, Kidd, Wessler
Wing: N'Guessan, Camden, Buchanan
Wing: Cattoor, Rice
Wing: Maddox, Collins
PG: Pedulla
Adding Reid and retaining Mutts at the 4 would be an insane roster
would be deep ... some frustrated guys, based on pt, but that's sorta the game and even more competitive now.
I mean they'd all be young and get minutes here and there. Starting 5 plus N'Guessan would be the main rotation for sure
not counting reid or mutts yet.
but yeah, 1 big wing, with nguessan playing back up 5 as it is now. kidd looks like he needs more time to get pt. camden and nguessan would play big wing, sorta what mutts did on D, but neither play like him on O.
we'll see about the freshman, need to see it first before i expect much pt, outside of rice.
cattoor and rice are the combo guards, maybe even collins.
Legend has it, if you say "big wing" three times, Air Marshall Dowding appears and berates you for failing to support 11 Group's airfields in a timely manner.
purportedly, he eventually had surgery
This is outstanding. One thing that we absolutely need in order to compete next year is an athletic playmaker at wing. It's an even bigger plus that this guy has years of eligibility. Not only is this dude talented but he's coming into a position of need. I'm hype for this.
So he is taking Aluma's spot in scholarship order and maybe half his playtime to start?
So now we have a Camden Johnson and a John Camden on the roster. Would be cool to listen to the broadcast on assists to each other.
We just need a John Johnson, now.
And a Cam Camden
Or Jack Johnson and his bitter rival, John Jackson