Transfer says the Clemson program "spoke for itself"

Bohannon is ready to get to know Clemson better. (Youngstown State photo)

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Wed May 12 12:00:07 GMT-04:00 2021

Naz Bohannon didn’t know much about Clemson a few months ago beyond the excellence of the football program, but now he’s ready to leave Ohio and spend his last season in college basketball playing for Brad Brownell and the Tigers.

A Youngstown State graduate transfer forward, Bohannon announced a commitment to Clemson on Tuesday.

Bohannon, who is listed at 6-6 and 228 pounds, averaged 16.5 points, 8.2 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game last season with the Penguins. He also averaged double figures scoring as a junior (11.2 PPG) with 8.6 rebounds per game.

Bohannon told TigerNet that assistant coach Antonio Reynolds-Dean was a big part of the reason he chose Clemson.

“For me, from the first day I was in the portal, Coach D was really genuine with me, which I could respect,” Bohannon said. “And then once I got to meet the rest of the staff, they were the exact same way. And then, the research on the program spoke for itself. They’ve been a top-five team in the ACC for years, and they’ve been to the (NCAA) Tournament. I dream of going to the tournament. And Coach Brownell wants to play hard and play defense. That is the type of program I want to be a part of. And it’s also a place I feel like I could make an impact.”

Bohannon said the coaches have talked about him filling the role of the recently-graduated Aamir Simms.

“We talked about that, filling the role that Aamir played,” he said. “But with me having a little less size than Aamir, I am able to guard some perimeter players and go out on the perimeter more than Aamir was able to. He can throw me in those 3-4-5 spots or wherever he wants to throw me, and I can be versatile.”

Bohannon has yet to visit the Clemson campus – all tours and interviews were done by Zoom – but he still feels like he made the right choice.

“It’s hard and it’s not hard at the same time,” Bohannon said. “Because when you do it for all the right reasons and they can kind of vet it out, the location isn’t that big of a deal, especially when you know you’re around good people.”

Bohannon said he didn’t know that much about Clemson before starting the process.

“I didn’t know that much outside of the location,” he said. “I knew more about the football program as opposed to basketball. I moved in with an Ohio State football fan, so that kind of speaks for itself. They had the upper hand on us.”

He joins 6-4 USF graduate transfer David Collins, as well as signees Joshua Beadle (6-3 guard) and Ian Schieffelin (6-8 forward) as newcomers for the 2021-22 season.