A lot has been made of the Big South portal class for better and for worse, and rightfully so with some of the talent coming in. That portal attention has led to something being overlooked: this season’s freshman class and the talent that they themselves bring. Whether it’s 5A State Champions, All-Time Leading Scorers, or the best-ranked recruit in conference history. The Big South has it all and so much more in this year’s freshman class.
DISCLAIMER:
For Simplicity’s Sake: The only players I am counting as “Freshman” for the purpose of this article are players coming from Tradition HS or Prep Routes.
NOT COUNTING: Returning or Transfer RS Freshman or European Professional Freshman.
Preseason Rankings:
One of the easiest ways to see how good the next crop of Big South freshmen will be is by checking their recruiting rankings. Out of the 17 incoming freshmen in the Big South, 9 of those 17 are in the Top 50 of their state in Class of 2026 rankings, led by the BEST-ranked freshman in Big South history, Trey Pearson, who currently sits just inside the Top 150 on 247Sports. 6 of the 9 Big South schools added a freshman ranked in the Top 50 of their state. Two of the three teams that didn’t either had a Top 50 State Ranked 2026 commit, reclass to play in 2025, or had a Top 2025 freshman redshirt last season.
Of those 9 Top 50 state-ranked recruits, 3 are headed to the same school, that being UNC Asheville, which brings in both Logan Johnson and Ian Bailey from the State of North Carolina and Quinton Mansfield from Georgia. The ability of schools like UNC Asheville to land top freshmen comes down to ONE BIG thing: playing time. Mike Morrell put it pretty simply at Big South Media Day last season, “They (High Majors) have 15 scholarships… I know a lot of kids who have zero chance to play on some rosters; what are you in it for?” It’s clear that Mansfield, Johnson and Bailey all are in it to compete from the jump.
The other Big South school with multiple Top 50 ranked players gets both of their players from the New England; that team is Gardner Webb. Jeremy Luther brings him yet another Putnam Science Academy player, David Gaymon, who joins him, along with Chinedu Okpara from Wilbraham & Monson. Gaymon comes in ranked 30th and Okpara comes in 45th. That New England region has been a massive source for Gardner Webb’s best talent in history, with Gaymon and Okpara poised to potentially be the next NE star in Boiling Springs.
Then there is the Panther in the room with Trey Pearson. The highest-ranked recruit in Big South history and the first-ever 4-star recruit in Big South history. In HPU’s Top 5 recruits, you have 2 current/former P5 players, a starter for most of last season at HPU, and then the previous highest recruit in Big South history. Who is that former highest recruit in Big South history? Well, only one of the best players in Big South history and HPU great, John Brown.
Elite Level Talent:
One of the clearest strengths of this Big South class comes from the talent they played against during their high school and prep careers. 3 of the 17 incoming freshmen are coming from Top 100 programs nationally with CSU’s Marquise Leslie, UNC Asheville’s Quinton Mansfield, and Presbyterian’s Langston Hackworth. Marquise Leslie comes from 21st-ranked Alexander HS, while Mansfield comes from Gainesville, Georgia (63rd), and Hackworth comes from Andrew Jackson in Florida (69th). Alongside those 3 from the HS Top 100, The Big South has 6 players from Top 100 Prep Schools, 2 going to Gardner-Webb and 1 to each of Longwood, Presbyterian, Radford, and USC Upstate.
If you want to find elite talent in the Big South, one of the best hotbeds has been the State of Georgia, and that is reflected with 2 of the 3 players from Top 100 HS’s in Marquise Leslie and Quinton Mansfield. Marquise Leslie follows in a line of Georgia players who have committed to Charleston Southern, many of whom come from equally elite High Schools. Jacob Taylor was an All-Freshman Team member last season after coming from nationally ranked Wheeler HS; one of the greatest players in CSU history, Ta’je Kelly, played for 36th-ranked Grayson HS. That success hasn’t been limited to CSU either; Winthrop and others have had success with Georgia HS stars, including players Elijah Tucker, KJ Doucet, and Tommy Kamarad.
One of the biggest prep standouts was actually one of the latest commits, Elijah Thomas, who committed to Longwood. Elijah Thomas comes in from Winston-Salem Christian Academy, where he got to play in the elite Grind Session circuit the past season. Elijah Thomas ended up making the most out of the opportunity with 22 points against West Oaks and averaged 4.8 PPG across the entire season. That ability helped Thomas garner offers from Arizona State, Jacksonville and LIU before eventually choosing Longwood to call home.
National Team Experience:
Something that you see very rarely in incoming freshmen is having experience playing for their national teams. In the Big South this season, two of the incoming freshmen have national team experience. The most recent experience of the two is Will Dopfer, an incoming freshman for Longwood, who played just this spring in the Albert Schweitzer Tournament for Germany’s U-18 team. The other freshman is Alexandros Alexakis from High Point, who has played for Greece’s U18 and U20 teams.
As I mentioned earlier, Dopfer played just this fall in the Albert Schweitzer Tournament for Germany. During that tournament, Dopfer played in 6 of 7 games, averaging 16 MPG, 6.2 PPG, and 3.8 RPG. Dopfer had a positive +/- across all 6 of his games, including a +7 in the title game vs. Slovenia, and reached highs of 9 points against Turkey and 9 rebounds against Japan. After their win over Slovenia, Dopfer and Germany capped off a perfect 7-0 record and won the tournament.
While Will Dopfer might have the most recent international experience, Alexandros Alexakis has the most extensive resume of international experience. Alexakis played for the Greek National Team at both the 2023 FIBA U16 European Championship and the 2024 U18 EuroBasket. In the 2023 U16 European Championship, Alexakis was the 3rd leading scorer for the entire event, tied with Arkansas Commit Miikka Muurinen. In the U18 EuroBasket, Alexakis came off the bench and had standout games against Denmark, scoring 10 points and grabbing 6 rebounds, and in the 9th-place game, scoring 6 points and grabbing 5 rebounds.
Final Thoughts:
This incoming freshman class has a ton of promise. Whether it’s the highest-ranked Big South commit ever, the multiple Top 100-level HS and Prep players, the national team players, or even some of the other amazing stars that weren’t mentioned. This doesn’t include the likes of Kaleb Evans from Winthrop and Abu Yarmah from Longwood, both of whom are Top RS freshmen in the conference. The one limiting factor for many players’ freshman seasons will be playing time, as the Big South brought in 7 fewer freshmen than last season.
By March of 2031, this class will likely have exhausted all their eligibility. With the 17 players in this freshman class, I think there is a real possibility that this has nearly a 70% hit rate on All Conference Level Players/Players who moved up a league. I also believe this has a high likelihood of 3-4 really high-level professional players, with I think at least one NBA-bound, at least to the G League but likely to the Big Show.