By Hale McGranahan.

Earlier this month, Clemson basketball coach Brad Brownell sat down with TheClemsonInsider for a 1-on-1 interview.

In part one of our three-part series, Brownell discussed the seniors and juniors. In part two, he weighs in on the sophomores and freshmen.

Headlining the group of underclassmen is redshirt sophomore forward Jaron Blossomgame, who started in 30 of the 33 games he appeared in last season, making him the school’s first freshman starter since Demontez Stitt.

“One of the exciting things with Jaron is that this is our first full offseason with him,” Brownell said. “He’s been here for three offseasons, but this is the first one we’ve had him the whole time. He’s healthy.”

The Clemson staff used that time to focus on Blossomgame’s offensive skills.

“We’ve really worked with him on his shooting. He needs to be a more consistent outside shooter, because he’s a little undersized for his position,” Brownell said. “To help him score, to help our offense, he’s got to be able to make a few more 3s, drive the ball off close outs and reversals, get inside the defense and just use some of his athleticism.”

Blossomgame averaged 4.9 points and 5.0 rebounds per game a season ago.

“I think, being healthy and the added skill work from the last six months since March, it’s helped him,” Brownell said. “He’s had consistent workouts for the first time. He hasn’t gone for two weeks and had to stop, gone for a month and had to stop, then been out for a long time. It’s hard to get better that way. It’s hard to improve. I think you saw some improvement.”

Perhaps the most improved player over the course of the 2013-14 season was Austin Ajukwa. The Columbia product appeared in 25 games as a freshman, almost one-third of which were in the final nine games of the season. During that closing stretch, Ajukwa played just over 10 minutes per contest.

“I think he’s done a lot of good things. He’s worked physically, he’s had to change his body. He’s had to become strong enough to play at this level,” Brownell said. “His first year, it kind of took him a year to physically be able to handle all the things that go into being able to play at this level. He got better.

“I think you saw it through the course of the year. He got a little stronger, got more confident, got used to the pace. You saw signs of him being able to do it in spurts. Now, we’re trying to get him to do it on a consistent basis.

“Physically, he’s at the point now where that’s not the issue…he still has to learn our system a little bit better. He’s got to continue to embrace the coaching and the fundamental parts of the game that we value. He’s talented, athletically, and he’s done a lot of good things this spring and summer.”

Sidy Djitte also received a positive review.

“Sidy is a worker. Sidy likes to work…he wants to punch the clock and get better,” Brownell said. “He is listening. He’s been a little stubborn at times, but I think he’s being even more coachable, which I think he’s good. I know he’s a better player.”

As a freshman, Djitte averaged 8.9 minutes per game (34 appearances), to go along with 1.1 points and 2.7 rebounds.

“I think we’ll see better results from him. I don’t know if it will be as noticeable for everybody as it was with Landry (Nnoko), but he is a better player,” Brownell said.

Fellow 2013 signee Patrick Rooks was sidelined for the entire 2013-14 season with a hip injury. The lefty shooting guard from Charlotte “seems fine” and ready to roll this winter.

“You put him in a shooting drill and there’s no doubt that he can shoot a basketball. You put him in a spot — go shoot 25 3s and see how many he’s going to make, he’s going to shoot a high percentage,” Brownell said. “You can put him underneath the basket, have him run around to different spots and he can make some shots running away from the basket that are difficult shots; and he can shoot on the move.”

However, Rooks still has to adjust to the physical nature of the college game.

“He’s struggling right now conditioning-wise. He’s struggling right now strength-wise, because it’s bigger, faster, stronger athletes, which he didn’t really have last year,” Brownell said. “He’s coming back from a health situation and competing at a higher level, his eyes are wide-open.”

There are two more freshmen wings who will be competing for minutes this season: Donte Grantham and Gabe DeVoe.

Because of his post-grad year at Hargrave Military Academy, Brownell said Grantham is more mature than most freshmen. The former four-star recruit also has a pretty advanced offensive skill set.

“Highly skilled passer, dribbler, can shoot the ball reasonably well for his size, the kind of guy that you like, in terms of a bigger wing-type-guy that can catch and dribble,” Brownell said.

Grantham does have some room to grow, literally.

“He’s got to work on the physical part of the game, some of the toughness aspects that you’ve got to fight through as a player,” Brownell said. “But, having said that, he has a lot of tools to be successful, he really does. He has a lot of offensive tools that you don’t see in guys his size. I’m really excited about him.”

Brownell is also excited about what DeVoe will bring to the offensive end of the floor.

“He’s got strength. That will help him,” Brownell said. “He’s going to have to get used to the way we do things defensively here. That’s more challenging than he’s ever experienced. There’s going to be growth there.”

Brownell added, “I think, offensively, he can shoot the ball, do some things, because of his strength to go by people and attack, penetrate…I see things there that are really good. He plays the game with good confidence as an offensive player.”