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2014 SG Commits to Clemson

Gabe DeVoe committed to Clemson today, becoming the 1st commit (and possibly only) of the 2014 recruiting class. I'll be honest, I had never heard of Gabe DeVoe. Apparently neither had 2 of the recruiting services, as they have yet to rate him. He's rated a 2* prospect by both ESPN and 24/7. But that doesn't always mean too much at this point because it's early in the evaluation period. I decided to watch some of his highlights and judge this commitment for myself.

Joshua S. Kelly-USA TODAY Sports

I'll start with the positives. Based on his listed height/weight and the way he appears on film, DeVoe is a big, strong kid for a SG at 6'4 and 200 lbs. He's physically superior to his competition and looks the part of a college SG. He has a very fluid shooting stroke with a high release point and a nice follow through. He shows the ability to shoot off the bounce or off the catch. He also has nice highlights of him taking the ball strong to the basket and finishing with his left hand. His junior year numbers of 21 ppg, 6 rpg, and 5 apg are very good, but I don't know anything about his competition level. 5 assists per game is very good for a 32 minute high school game and shows that he isn't a gunner. He has some flashy no-look passes in his highlights.

The biggest reason I think he is rated a 2* is because he isn't a high-level athlete. He lacks quickness, as you can see by his inability to blow by defenders. He does a good job of using his body to get to the rim, but that can be negated by college SG's and 6'10 big men camping out around the rim. He doesn't get much lift on his shots, whether it's his jumpshot or a drive to the basket. There's only so much you can do to improve your athleticism. You either have it or you don't. By high school you can usually tell what kind of athlete a kid will be, and he isn't going to make highlight film plays like K.J. McDaniels.

Clemson has some top 100 guys in Georgia that are showing some interest, so I'm a bit surprised by this commitment at this point. Without a senior on the roster, we'll need attrition in order to bring DeVoe on board, so it doesn't appear that we'll be taking anyone else at this point.