Auburn basketball recruiting: How top targets performed at the 2019 Peach Jam

By
Jay Phillips
-
(Photo by Scott Winters/Icon Sportswire)

Nike EYBL’s Peach Jam was this past week, and Auburn basketball’s coaching staff spent time watching some of their top targets while offering a new target. 

Many of the Tigers’ top targets in the class of 2020 and 2021 played in the Peach Jam, but the Athletes of Tomorrow team was the coaches’ main attraction with 2020 commit Justin Powell out for the Indy Heat.

AOT’s roster includes Auburn targets such as Sharife Cooper, Brandon Boston Jr., and Dylan Cardwell, with Bruce Pearl and company offering AOT’s Devan Cambridge on Sunday morning.

Cambridge had a breakout session at the Peach Jam, scoring 22 points on 11-of-14 shooting in AOT’s win over Meanstreets, and he followed that up with 24 points on 9-of-13 shooting in a win over Pro Skills. He also had six blocks and six rebounds against Meanstreets and eight rebounds, three assists, and two blocks against Pro Skills.

Cambridge is athletic and showed his scoring ability at the Peach Jam, but West Virginia seemed to lead his recruitment heading into the week. He is reportedly scheduled to make his commitment choice on Monday. Whether or not the new offers, from the likes of Auburn and Oregon, had any impact is yet to be seen.

But he isn’t the only member of AOT now sporting an Oregon offer, as the Ducks also offered Boston and Cooper in recent weeks.

Boston had cut his list to four, but is now considering Oregon alongside Auburn, Kentucky, Florida, and Duke. He also set an official visit date to Kentucky for July 25 and 26, according to Kentucky Sports Radio. Boston, along with Cooper, visited Auburn earlier this summer for Fish Fry Weekend.

The duo had a great showing at the Peach Jam and throughout the four EYBL sessions leading up to it.

Both targets finished in the top 11 for points per game with Boston finishing in the top 20 for rebounds per game and Cooper finishing second in assists per game.

Dylan Cardwell, another AOT player and Auburn target, finished in the top 15 in rebounds per game and fifth in blocked shots. He is related to Auburn defensive line coach Rodney Garner.

As a team, AOT made it to the Peach Jam’s “Elite Eight” before losing to a Boo Williams team led by two other top-30 Auburn targets in 2020’s Cam Thomas and 2021’s Zion Harmon. 

In that game alone, Cooper and Boston combined for 63 points while Harmon and Thomas combined for 52 points.

Cooper had a great showing at the Peach Jam from start to finish, averaging 26 points, nine assists, and five rebounds per game.

He remains Auburn’s top-target in the class of 2020, and it has been rumored that he could end his recruitment soon.

Dan McDonald of Rivals also predicted Cooper to commit soon, and to Auburn no less, even saying that Cooper has been rumored to be recruiting for the Tigers. 

Greg Brown III is another 2020 target that the staff has continued to go all out for during the recruiting period. 

Auburn wasn’t on Brown’s radar before the Final Four run, but now the Tigers have moved up the fifth overall prospect’s list and hosted him for a visit in June. Pearl watched Brown play in person at least once at the Peach Jam.

Brown is expected to cut his list of finals schools to a number around five soon, and he said that Memphis, Auburn, and Texas have been the schools in touch with him the most frequently, according to an interview with USA Today.

Outside of the Peach Jam, Auburn coaches also watched Walker Kessler at the Adidas Summer Championship and Rongie Gordon at the Under Armor Association Finals. 

Pearl and his staff were said to have tracked Gordon on Friday, and Kessler was a main target throughout the week, with Pearl watching him in person on Thursday and Sunday.

This is obviously a busy time of the year for recruiting, and more news and potential targets could surface at any time throughout the rest of the summer. 

Jay Phillips
Jay has spent the last three years writing about, and working around, high school, JUCO and college athletics. That experience influenced him to follow and write about college basketball recruiting. Jay comes from a family of Auburn fans and has been a fan of Auburn basketball for as long as he can remember, despite attending the universities of South Alabama and West Florida.