One of the first offers sent out from the Clemson hoops staff during the July evaluation period went to Wyatt Wilkes, a 6-7 small forward from Winter Park, Fla.

Wilkes already had offers from UAB, UCF and Virginia Tech when Brad Brownell extended the news over the phone.

“They said they were going to offer me, I didn’t know when…we talk every day. I just thought it was a routine call and he said, ‘Hey, we’re offering you a scholarship.’ I was kind of taken aback by it, at first,” Wilkes told TheClemsonInsider.

He was more than happy to have the Tigers jump into the mix.

“I’ve never heard a bad word about [autotag]Clemson[/autotag]. I definitely wanted to say I had an offer from them,” Wilkes said.

[autotag]Richie Riley[/autotag] serves as the point man in Clemson’s recruitment.

“He emphasized that Clemson is for winners. Everybody wants to win and that’s what I want to do,” Wilkes said. “I want to go to a school with wolves. I don’t want to go to a school with a bunch of sheep. I want to go to school with people that work hard and they want to win.

“That’s what (Riley) emphasizes. He also says Clemson is a small town. There are no pro sports teams in the state. Clemson’s fans are very, very into their school sports.”

Florida, Florida State, Tennessee, Purdue, TCU, Vanderbilt and Alabama are also in contact.

“I’m a pass-first guy, but most people see me as a shooter/scorer, but really I love to pass. I like to have a flowing offense where I can free-range,” Wilkes said. “I don’t want a grind it out, sit-down and run through half-court. Running and gunning, I like that, so that I can make passes, I can shoot for 3, have a little bit of free-range of motion.”

As a sophomore, Wilkes averaged 13.1 points and 3.4 assists per game.