Clingan Taking His Time with Recruiting Process

One of Syracuse basketball's top targets in the 2022 class discusses his recruitment and interest in the Orange.

A seven footer who can shoot, pass, run the floor and is a quality rim protector is a rare prospect. That is exactly why class of 2022 center Donovan Clingan is such a coveted recruit and has racked up more than a dozen offers. Clingan plays AAU ball for Team Spartans. Team Spartans Director and head coach Joe Chatman has seen Clingan grow within their program. 

"Over the last year and a half since he's been with me, with our program, he's definitely gotten stronger," Chatman said. "That comes from the time that I recruited him when he was 14 to being 16 and a half now. His body has gotten a lot more mature. He's been lifting, which I do want him to do and I know his high school coach also wants him to do. He's also been running.

"His skill set for the bigs in his class, and I'm bias, has always been to me the best. I don't think there's many seven footers who can shoot it like him, pass it like him and are as unselfish as he is. He needed to work on his core so he can be a little more explosive with his first step and then getting off the ground. Teams naturally play him a little more physical than they do everybody else because he's so physically dominating with an amazing skill set. He needed to improve upon his strength and he's done that."

Syracuse was the first school to offer Clingan, and have stayed in constant contact since. He speaks regularly with the staff, including head coach Jim Boeheim. 

"I think I talk to coach Adrian (Autry) the most," Clingan said. "Coach Boeheim calls a couple times a month. I talk to G-Mac a lot. Adrian calls probably two or three times a week maybe.

"When they call, we talk basketball of course and what I've been working on. What I've been doing and stuff. We talk about everything, we talk about life. Me and G-Mac talk about video games. We talk about 2K and Call of Duty a lot."

Clingan says he is taking his time with the recruiting process right now. The pandemic has hindered his ability to do much of what he was anticipating last summer and even this fall. That includes exposure, visits, attending games and more. 

"With the pandemic and everything, I lost a lot of exposure over the summer," Clingan said. "Not just me but my whole AAU team did. So I feel like if it was a normal summer, I'd have a lot more interest and my whole team would. Right now, I'm happy where I'm at. Obviously I want to get better and get more schools to offer and interest and stuff. But maybe a couple months from now cut down my schools, maybe a year from now make a decision. I'm not really sure. It's just like all up in the air right now. 

"I can't go visit schools, I can't go watch teams practice, I can't watch games really. Seeing a game in person is way different than seeing a game on TV because you can focus on the ball and one play and not everywhere else." 

Despite all of that, Syracuse continues to be a school he is interested in. 

"Right now I don't have my way set on one school or one school I like the most," Clingan said. "So I like them all the same. They were my first offer so that's always going to mean something to me because they had faith in me first. They believed in me from the beginning."

Team Spartans Director and head coach Joe Chatman has a great relationship with the Syracuse coaches, and believes Clingan's patient approach is the correct one. 

"I talked to Red... Adrian Autry this morning (Tuesday)," Chatman said. "I call him Red because of the relationship. I spoke with him this morning. I love those guys. Donovan knows how I feel about them. It's an amazing staff, obviously a Hall of Fame coach who has over a thousand wins. He doesn't need a checklist of why and how. He's seen it and done it all. For me, it's a great place. 

"With my players, in particular Donovan, I really want him to take his time through this process. When we first started this thing over a year and a half ago, none of us thought that we would be in this type of pandemic where we can't go to a campus. There were so many games for us to get to. There were so many unofficial visit we were supposed to take. I'm pretty sure we would have been up to Syracuse three or four times by now. We just haven't been able to do it. The school's a great academic school and, again, I think the staff is one of the best in the country."

In addition to Syracuse, Clingan has offers from Boston College, Connecticut, Georgetown, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Providence, Rutgers, South Carolina and Virginia Tech. 

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