Following their 65-63 victory over the Houston Cougars in a thrilling comeback in the NCAA Championship final, the Florida Gators finally ended their long championship drought.
This is only made more impressive by the fact that not a single player on the Gators was a top-100 recruit, a credit to the work done by the recruitment team in Florida and HC Todd Golden. The recruitment of Walter Clayton Jr. proves this. But how many Division I offers did Clayton have coming out of college?
How Many Division I College Offers Did Florida Gator Walter Clayton Jr. Have?
During his High School career, Florida Gator star Walter Clayton Jr. won back-to-back State Championships with Bartow High School after transferring in his sophomore season from Lake Wales.
The point guard averaged 15.4 points per game in his best high school season but struggled with recruitment offers due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
While Clayton only had three prospective offers from Division I schools, he also had offers from multiple top football programs, such as Florida, Florida State, Notre Dame, and Georgia.
However, this year’s Most Outstanding Player ultimately decided to commit to Iona, who was coached by Rick Pinito at the time, after catching the coach’s eye during a virtual event.
Clayton was then offered a scholarship by Iona and decided to commit to the program without even visiting the campus. He left his potential football career behind to play NCAA Basketball.
The Florida Native also turned down his only other two offers from D1 Schools to join Rick Pinito, rejecting both East Carolina and Charleston.
How Did The Gators Recruit Walter Clayton Jr.?
With both Alex Condon and Clayton looking set to enter this year’s NBA Draft as potential first-round prospects, it would shock many to hear that neither were actually rated as top-100 prospects when they were recruited.
Clayton was just named the Most Outstanding Player following this year’s NCAA Championship final after scoring 45 points in the Gators’ last two games to see them across the finish line, but he was actually an unranked prospect when he was recruited by Rick Pinito at Iona.
When he first played for Iona, Head Coach Rick Pinito’s viral comments from that period resurfaced. In them, he described Clayton Jr. as “fat” and “slow.”
Following his sophomore season, during which he was first in many team statistics, including points, Clayton Jr. decided to join Todd Golden at Florida.
RELATED: Florida Gators Make History as First Champion Without Top-100 Recruit
In an interview with SEC analyst Paul Finebaum, Clayton revealed that he almost decided to follow Pitino to St. John’s but ultimately decided to transfer to Florida after claiming that the college “felt like home” to the Florida native.
“It was a great environment. “They made a great plan. Felt like family.” The NBA Draft prospect told Finebaum.
With Clayton set to enter the NBA Draft later this year, it’s safe to say his stock has risen from an unranked prospect with only three D1 offers into one of the best players in college Basketball this year.
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