7-0 center Jonas Aidoo of Behama, NC, just outside of Durham, has been one of the developing stories of the summer basketball recruiting circuit. Displaying new confidence and an improved overall game, Aidoo is now on the radar of many major programs, including Clemson and USC. In fact, the Tigers were one of the first majors to offer him, and the Gamecocks followed suit last week.
Aidoo played for Voyager Academy in Durham the past two seasons. He originally was in the 2020 class but reclassified for 2021 and transferred to Liberty Heights Athletic Institute in Charlotte.
“It’s been a very humbling process,” Aidoo said. “I just really had to wait for my time, and my time finally came to show people what I could really do on the court.”
Clemson assistant coach Antonio Dean-Reynolds was one of those to notice and offered Aidoo July 16th. Aidoo has never visited Clemson so he’s been going thru the learning process with Dean-Reynolds.
“Everything seems, good, nice program, I’m just waiting to see if I can have a Zoom call with them one day so I can learn more information,” Aidoo said. “They said I’m a really good big. They can really develop me into a big-time big hopefully, training me to go to the NBA. And they need a big man for their upcoming 2021 class because they are losing bigs. They think I would fit in their system perfectly.”
After Clemson, the major offers started rolling in with Houston, Virginia Tech, Providence, Wichita State, Appalachian State and Iona making their contact. USC offered last week and Marquette offered Monday. Aidoo said he had a chance last week to visit remotely with Frank Martin and his staff with the Gamecocks.
“I had a Zoom call with them three-four days ago,” Aidoo said. “Everything looked good. I talked to most of the staff and they seem like real good people. They want to accomplish goals, try to make a run to the national championship. Coach Frank Martin was talking about how he loves for his bigs to be skilled, and how I can stretch out the floor, shoot the three-ball, pass it, and how he likes his bigs to hand-off the ball, dribble hand-off and do things off the hand-off.”
Aidoo said when he’s allowed to take official visits, he plans to see Clemson and USC. He does not plan to sign until the spring.
