Damon Stoudamire has built his third recruiting class since he took over the Georgia Tech program.
It’s a class that, as of Wednesday morning, is ranked 23rd nationally and seventh in the ACC, according to the 247Sports Composite. It’s a class that could be even better if five-star power forward Bryson Tiller chooses to play for the Yellow Jackets as well.
But Stoudamire, speaking on the current recruiting landscape after Tech’s win over visiting Texas Southern, said his methodology in signing prospects is just as much about talent as it is about roster management. In the age of the transfer portal, Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) and the impending revenue sharing model which will give money to athletes, Stoudamire said he falls back on his NBA experiences to help him navigate how to select incoming talent.
And a lot of those choices, put bluntly, have to do with money. Stoudamire said if that aspect is the most important thing to a prospect, he probably won’t end up wearing white and gold.
“It’s not like the old days. That relationship, some of ‘em start with the money now. Sometimes the relationship aspect of it is out the window. For me, that part of it will never go out the window. Like, if I can’t rap with you, if I can’t talk with you, if I don’t know who your people are, I can’t take you. If the first thing you’re gonna talk about is money I can’t take you. I’m not gonna take you. I’ve never seen that work.
“Obviously we know where it’s gonna go. You recruit a certain type of kid, you know what it looks like.”
Tech officially signed four prospects Wednesday: center Cole Kirouac, forward Brandon Stores and guards and Akai Fleming and Eric Chatfield Jr.
Fleming, playing at Overtime Elite after transferring from Osborne High in Marietta, is the highest-rated recruit of the bunch. Kirouac, also at OTE, actually signed with the program for the 2024-25 season before reclassifying. Chatfield is currently an unranked prospect.
Kirouac and Fleming celebrated their respective signings during a ceremony at OTE in Atlanta.
But the second-year Tech coach said he was satisfied with the group even if it is not as highly touted as the 2024 class which ranked fourth in the ACC and 20th overall.
“The way I recruit, I try to recruit guys that fit the mold of what I’m looking for in a player within my offensive and defensive schemes,” Stoudamire said. “I’m not just gonna recruit talent. I’m not gonna get drunk off talent. But what I’m going to do is I’m going to find fits. I wanna find a guy that has a trick. What does he do well? Can he do one thing well? Can he do two things well?”
Listed at 7-foot, 199 pounds, Kirouac began his prep career at North Forsyth High School before playing a season at Brewster Academy (N.H.) and then returning to Georgia to play at OTE. He’s now considered a three-star prospect and is continuing to develop his game, a process he chose to delay for a season, before finally making the jump to ACC basketball.
“I thought it was going to best for me just to give my body time to develop, just get more ready for the college level. I think the decision is gonna be pay off, just to be more college ready,” Kirouac said, adding he has added between 10-15 pounds of weight. “I’ve been working on my shot, trying to eventually be able to hit a couple 3s in-game. Working on my hands inside so I can just easily catch the ball and finish, stuff like that.”
Fleming (6-4, 184) averaged 22 points, seven rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block junior at Osborne. He transferred to OTE over the summer and is scoring 14.3 points per contest over his team’s first four games at Overtime.
Fleming said he’s in the weight room every day trying to improve his strength, and when he gets to campus in 2025, he will bring an electric, explosive game from a “kid that loves to work.”
“Really the culture of Georgia Tech, man,” he added on why he chose to be a Yellow Jacket. “Coach Stoudamire and his coaching staff, I love what they’re doing, on the court wise, off the court wise. I feel like they can get me to the next level.”
Tech also signed Stores, a 6-10, 210-pound forward out of the Bronx, New York, and Chatfield (5-11, 160), a point guard from Pace Academy.
Stoudamire, on Tuesday, called the foursome a high-character group that come from high-character families. He also said it’s a group he arranged following models he studied during his time as an NBA assistant in terms of how to build a team.
And moving forward he said he understands the business format he needs to follow to get the right guys to play inside McCamish Pavilion.
“I think that’s where I understand maybe a little bit more about some situations,” he said. “I think the beauty now is, it used to be, if you lost a kid, somebody’ll say something, maybe it was something about your program and that’s the reason you lost ‘em, or somebody within the program maybe they didn’t like. Sometimes you just lose ‘em because you just don’t got enough money. It just kinda is what it is. I can live with that.
“There are situations that I’m pretty sure will come as I’m going further in to this where it’s like, ‘Man I love you do death, but I don’t got the money.’ That’s no different than the NBA. ‘I love you to death, but I got the bare minimum. They can pay you the max, I don’t have that.’ That’s what it is.”
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