The Green Bay Phoenix coaching staff has landed their first in-state recruit since 2017 and it’s a prized local kid from just up the road.
Southern Door High School’s Ryan Claflin verbally committed to the Phoenix on Tuesday night, announcing his decision on Twitter.
He had earned several Division II scholarship offers but the offer from Green Bay was the first Division I offer for the star senior who had a sensational summer and was named a “breakout performer” at the Wisconsin Basketball Yearbook Tournament this past July.
“Claflin is one of the hottest names in the 2020 class in Wisconsin,” Mark Miller of WisSports.net and the Wisconsin Basketball Yearbook wrote in July. “Claflin combines excellent size, stellar athleticism and very solid skills to make a huge impact on every game he plays.”
“He is an extremely unselfish player who has a very good basketball IQ. And his ability to finish above the rim, make three-point shots and get his teammates involved were all very apparent at the WBY Tournament in Kaukauna.”
He ranks as a top 15 prospect among the state of Wisconsin’s impressive 2020 high school recruiting class according to WisSports.net and was one of the top 5 uncommitted prospects in the state according to the website.
As a junior at Southern Door, located about a half hour drive north of the UW-Green Bay campus on basically the same road (state Highway 57), Claflin averaged 15.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per game and was named first team All-Conference in the Packerland Conference. His highlight reel consists of high flying dunks but he also showed the ability to shoot from the outside consistently by knocking down over 42% of his three point attempts.
He reached double figure scoring in 19 of his team’s 24 games last season and helped lead Southern Door to a 19-5 overall record and a Packerland Conference title.
Claflin is just the third in-state prospect to commit to Green Bay in the past five years as Linc Darner and his staff have not had much success recruiting the state of Wisconsin during his tenure. Trevor Anderson (2016) and Will Chevalier (2017) are the only two scholarship prospects to commit to the Phoenix from the Badger state so far in the Darner era.
The staff has had success, however, in landing Division I transfers looking to come back home with David Jesperson, Sandy Cohen, and Cody Schwartz being solid contributors after starting their collegiate careers elsewhere.
Claflin is the 5th member of Green Bay’s 2020 recruiting class so far joining Jacob Jones and JUCO players Paris Taylor, Blayton Williams, and Leon Ayers.
The Phoenix still have one 2020 scholarship available as Claflin will pay his own way as a walk-on and redshirt next season before joining the program on scholarship as a redshirt freshman for the 2020/2021 season.
Categories: Recruiting
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