Hoops recruiting insider

The Clemson basketball staff is set to host its first official visitor of the 2016 recruiting cycle this weekend.

Clemson has yet to pull the trigger on an offer for power forward [autotag]Shandon Goldman[/autotag], a 6-9, 190-pound prospect from Evansville, Ark.

Originally a member of the 2015 class, Goldman has reclassified to 2016 and will attend St. John’s Northwestern Military Academy, which is just outside of Milwaukee.

Boston College and Utah State have offered. For Clemson, assistant coach [autotag]Richie Riley[/autotag] serves as the primary recruiter.

Clemson hopes to score an official visit from another prospect with a similar profile: 6-9, 195-pound power forward [autotag]John Fulkerson[/autotag].

Over the weekend, Fulkerson added Clemson to his offer sheet, which also includes Georgia, Tennessee, Charlotte, Winthrop and a number of other mid-major programs from the southeast. Fulkerson, who attends Christ School in Arden, N.C., is originally from Kingsport, Tenn.

On Tuesday night, he told TCI that he plans on visiting Clemson in the “next few weeks.” The type of trip it will be is still up in the air.

A few years ago, Fulkerson played in a Big Shots AAU event in Clemson, so he’s already familiar with the campus.

“I it was really nice. I know they’re doing construction and re-doing Littlejohn Coliseum, so I know that will be nice,” he said.

Associate head coach [autotag]Mike Winiecki[/autotag] serves as the Tigers’ primary recruiter. Contact began at the beginning of July.

“I think (I’m) just trying to find the right fit and taking some visits and meeting with the coaching staffs and just seeing how I would fit in with their school,” Fulkerson said.

Clemson already has a 2016 commitment in [autotag]Scott Spencer[/autotag], a three-star small forward, who will serve as a spot-up shooter for Brad Brownell. Not long after Spencer committed to Clemson, Brownell offered one of his teammates from Blue Ridge School (Dyke, Va.): 2017 four-star small forward [autotag]Aamir Simms[/autotag].

Spencer and Simms have talked about teaming up at the college level, but the conversations haven’t gotten too serious, at least not yet.

“Him being my teammate in high school, we talk a lot about it,” Simms said. “We talked about being a package, we both like to say that. We joke around with it, but we know — on a serious level — that he would love for me to come, too, because we’re teammates in high school and we could do the same in college.

“We’ve talked about it a lot. But, as of right now, we haven’t taken it into a further discussion about really coming together as a package.”

Cincinnati, Kansas State, Penn State, Providence, Richmond, UCF and Virginia Tech have also offered. Brownell phoned in the Clemson offer earlier this week.

“(Brownell said) he watched me a couple of times over the summer and he was really impressed with my game,” Simms said, “How I could do — pretty much working in the areas that he could put me in — how I could play point, bring the ball up the court or pass, take it to the post or just defend and rebound. He just loved my game when he watched it over the summer.”

Winiecki serves as the point man in Simms’ recruitment to Clemson.

For 2018 wing [autotag]Zion Williamson[/autotag], assistant coach [autotag]Steve Smith[/autotag] heads up Clemson’s efforts. The Tigers were the first offer for Williamson, who attends Spartanburg Day School.

Clemson wanted to add personal touch to the offer, so the coaches invited Williamson and 2017 five-star guard [autotag]Devontae Shuler[/autotag] (Irmo) to receive the offers in person. The SC Hornets teammates visited in June.

“They were showing us the practice courts, how they were building new facilities, how they’re building the new gym. They’ve got a lot of rebuilding around there,” Williamson said. “Coach Smith kept telling me and Devontae, he was saying how we don’t need to go out of state. We just need to stay in South Carolina and rep South Carolina.”

That sounded OK to him.

“I understand what they were saying. I do kind of want to stay instate and rep South Carolina, basketball-wise, so right now, I kind of like what they’re doing at Clemson,” Williamson said.