Clemson women’s basketball opened the 2025-26 season on Monday against USC Upstate with a 76-38 victory. While this season is just getting underway, it’s not too early to begin looking ahead to next season — especially with the recruiting class the Tigers are already putting together.
Last Monday, five-star recruit Trinity Jones announced her commitment to Clemson after receiving competing offers from other top programs such as LSU, Tennessee and UCLA. Jones, a 6-foot-1 guard from Naperville, Illinois, is the first five-star recruit to commit to Clemson since Shawn Poppie became the head coach last season.
Jones, ranked No. 11 in the cycle, is the highest-ranked recruit the Tigers have ever landed. As the fourth top-50 recruit of the SportsCenter Next 100, her commitment follows a trend of high-profile commitments for the 2026 class.
The first of the four to commit to Clemson was 5-foot-9 guard Meeyah Green from The Webb School in Tennessee. Green, ranked as the No. 50 prospect, announced her commitment last November to kick off the recruiting cycle for the Tigers in style.
The next commitment in the cycle came in April from Kimora Fields, a 5-foot-11 wing also out of Tennessee from Bradley Central. Fields is ranked as the No. 27 recruit in the country.
Prior to Jones, the most recent commit came just a month earlier in September. Julia Scott, a 6-foot-3 forward from Albertus Magnus High School in New York, is ranked the No. 39 recruit in the class.
While it’s still early in the recruitment cycle, the commitments currently rank Clemson as the top school for the 2026 class, according to 247Sports. Compared to last year’s 41st overall rank, this year’s class of commits has been a tremendous turnaround.
The change, of course, is a testament to Poppie, who came to Clemson from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga last year.
Prior to Poppie’s arrival, Clemson finished the 2023-24 campaign 12-19, 5-13 ACC. With Poppie at the helm, the program slightly improved last season with a 14-17 record. However, the Tigers’ ranked victories over the likes of Georgia Tech and California last season are what set the two seasons apart.
Now, as the Tigers head into the 2025-26 season, the team looks poised to improve once again. Clemson will lean heavily on experience, with the starting lineup in the season opener composed entirely of senior transfers.
The 2026 recruiting class looks to pave the way to replace those players seamlessly and set the Tigers up for continued success. Should everything pan out how fans hope, Clemson could be atop the list of hottest destinations in women’s basketball for years to come.
