It’s that time of year again, it’s Portal SZN! Like it or not the transfer portal has changed the game with 2,030 student athletes entering last season and if anything, that number probably goes higher this year.
This year the rules have changed quite a bit. Last season the spring transfer window ran from March 24th to May 1st. This year the portal will open the day after the National Championship game, April 7th, and run until April 21st. It’s important to note that this is the window players have to enter, not when they have to pick a school.
In Bryan Hodgson’s first high school recruiting class since taking the job at Providence don’t be surprised if ‘The Shark” is looking to make a splash or two. Asa Montgomery would certainly qualify as that as the 6-6 wing is considered one of the better players in the Class of 2027. Montgomery will be taking a visit to Friartown this fall.
Montgomery is a wing out of Powder Springs, GA where he plays for Hillgrove High School. If you recall former Friar Kadeem Batts finished his high school career in Powder Springs, albeit for Hillgrove’s rival McEachern High School. Montgomery checks in as the 42nd overall recruit in the Class of 2027 per 247Sports however several other recruiting services have him rated higher including ESPN who slot him as the 26th rated player in their SC Top 100.
October is shaping up to be a busy recruiting period for the Friars, and Brandon Woodard is one of their key 2027 recruits visiting during this month. Woodard, the Bishop McNamara product from the DMV who also plays for Team Durant on the AAU circuit, has set up four visits in the fall, with the Friars joining Mississippi State, Rutgers, and the local Georgetown Hoyas. Oklahoma State is also heavily in the mix.
Bryan Hodgson has shown an appetite to add versatile wing pieces as the focal point and core of his roster (see Pate, Byrd, Walters, Mela as perfect examples of Swiss Army knives), and Woodard fits the billing. Hodgson wants chess pieces offensively and defensively that can guard multiple positions on defense and play inside and outside from the 3/4 position.
We break down his game, fit with Friars, and recruitment below.
Big East point guards have a certain reputation: brash, cocky, and downright tenacious. Khalid El-Amin, Ryan Arcidiacono, Kemba Walker, Kris Dunn, Jalen Brunson. You can even reference old school Big East points that embody this spirit like a Levance Fields, Peyton Siva, or Johnny Flynn. All guys that epitomize the Big East way of running the show for their teams with a certain flair to their game.
Micah Gordon is what a Big East point guard looks and plays like. The stout 5’10 New Jersey point guard has been tearing up the high school and AAU scene for years and has emerged as one of the top point guards in the 2027 class.
Micah has a busy fall schedule, visiting 8 schools throughout August, September, and October. Providence gets the final visit the weekend of October 16th and is looking to find its point guard of the future.
At the end of summer media gathering, Coach Bryan Hodgson spoke about a multitude of different subjects. One comment that slipped under the radar, but now has massive ramifications due to the NCAA ruling on an extra year of eligibility for the Class of 2022, is that his former player Joseph Pinion has been practicing with the Friars. Additionally, they were seeking a waiver for his eligibility to play this year. With the court ruling yesterday, Pinion should have an extra year to play collegiate basketball. It would appear the Friars have the inside track on landing the 6’5 sharpshooting guard.
Providence has been looking to bolster its wing room in the 2027 class, and Dylan Jones is one of a few wings that Providence is honing in on. The 6’6 big bodied wing from Tennessee is scheduled to visit Providence in September alongside a slew of other high major schools.
Maybe our old friend Jalen Lindsey can put a good word in for us?
Four-star Dylan Jones now has four official visits scheduled for September, @KayserHoops reports:
Memphis: September 4th Texas A&M: September 11th Ole Miss: September 19th Providence: September 25th
With the summer here, Mike and I will spend the dog days of the offseason bantering about team expectations, ceiling and floor for this squad, MVP candidates, surprise candidates, etc. Inevitably, Mike and I will yell at each other over text saying one of us is right and one of us is wrong. I’m usually right, but that is besides the point…
What better way to get a pulse on how the fanbase is thinking about this upcoming year than an anonymous fan survey? I put together 10 questions that I thought would give readers a good sense of how the average fan is thinking about this roster. We received approximately 300 responses, so clearly even in July the energy around the program is palpable.
Carson Crawford, a 2027 wing from Florida, has set up a fall visit with Providence for October 19th. The product from Fleming Island high school, adjacent to Jacksonville, is a 4 star wing. 247 has him as 69th overall, while the 247 Composite has him ranked slightly better at 54th overall.
Crawford will be pursued by a plethora of ACC and SEC schools. Providence is currently competing with the likes of Florida State, Georgia, and Ole Miss, and I’m certain other southeastern schools will jump into the mix for the Top 75 wing.
The hunt for the next lead guard for Providence is on, with Hodgson and Staff offering a plethora of lead guards in the 2027 and 2028 class. One lead guard, Canadian Javion Tyndale, has set up a visit to Providence in late August to see the campus.
We profile his game, skillset, and recruitment below.
Coach Bryan Hodgson has seemingly put the finishing touches on his Providence roster for 2026-2027, and he is aiming to begin building out his 2027 high school recruiting class. Gabe Nesmith, a five star wing playing for Overtime Elite, is taking a visit to Friartown today. The 18th overall player in his class, Nesmith was teammates with current Friar Clyde Walters at OTE.
Nesmith is being courted by a slew of schools geographically located in the southeast. Nesmith has taken visits to Vanderbilt, Kansas, and Louisville already and already holds offers from Auburn and Florida State, amongst others. I mentioned in the 2027 Recruiting Primer (linked below) that we shouldn’t be surprised to see Providence target kids in SEC-country. Hodgson and staff have spent most of their time coaching in the Southeast, so the majority of their relationships should be embedded in that region.
I long complained about Cooley wasting his time in the Carolinas recruiting, as that is clearly ACC territory, but with the emergence of NIL, recruiting and geographic allegiances have become secondary to financial commitments made by schools.
Nesmith is every bit of his measured 6’5 frame. If anything, he appears to play a bit longer and taller than the listed 6’5. He grew up playing point guard, and you can see that with his handle.
Offensively, he can knock down the deep ball and has a smooth mid-range game. His length allows him to finish at and above the rim, and I particularly like that he has a floater in his arsenal when he gets into the paint. He is a true three level scorer.
At the risk of inflating his stock to unfair levels, I do see shades of Dybanasta in his game in that he is a big bodied wing that can manipulate the defense to get to where he wants on the court on offense. He’s methodical in his approach to offense.
Nesmith plays for the prestigious Nightrydas Elite AAU Team. That club has some pretty famous alums: Boozer twins, Caleb Wilson, and Scottie Barnes, to name a few. If you can play for this squad, chances are you are going to be playing high level college basketball. Nesmith is playing alongside a slew of elite recruits on this AAU team. One the Friars should be familiar with is big man Lewis Uvwo, who the Friars have offered.
Having a familiar face in Clyde Walters on the Providence roster will be beneficial in this recruitment, but I get the sense this recruitment has a few more chapters in it. Nesmith has blown up on the AAU scene and in select invite camps, like the NBPA Top 100 camp. Hodgson getting him to visit merely two weeks after an offer is a good start, and a successful season in Providence will bolster the chances for the Friars to score an upset on the recruiting trail by landing Nesmith.
Success this season by Dink Pate, Devin Vanterpool, and Ryan Mela will help Hodgson sell the vision on how he can develop wings at the collegiate level. I do think the scoring guards and wings are the strength of this 2026-2027 roster for Providence, and they will be showcased in a positive light.
Stay tuned in to The Providence Crier for updates on 2027 and 2028 recruiting, as well as all things Providence Friar basketball.
Coach Hodgson and staff welcomed Ryan Mela and the 10 transfer portal additions to campus earlier this week and there’s more players on the way. The Friars landed Overtime Elite wing Clyde Walters. The Birmingham, Alabama native was the 82nd ranked prospect per 247sports composite in the 2027 class. Instead the six-seven wing will reclassify and enroll at Providence immediately.
We are entering peak offseason time where news about the Providence Friars will be sparse. We’ll keep everybody up to date as we hear things about the new staff, new players, and outlook on the 2026-2027 season.
With that said, we’ll take this slower news cycle to analyze certain aspects of college sports that are changing and how it’ll impact the Providence Friars and college sports in general.
Our first topic will be the introduction of multi-year NIL agreements. We detail below.
