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.
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.
With Providence seemingly having a complete roster, sans a few late summer additions that will serve as presumably rounding out the bottom of the roster for depth purposes, the Friars have in essence built out their team for the 2026-2027 season. What do we think?
At The Providence Crier, we have written up individual player previews and impact analyses on each of the players. Take a look at those articles if you want a deep dive on each player and what they’ll bring to the 2026-2027 Friars.
Below, I take a holistic look at the roster and analyze the perceived strengths, potential weaknesses, and current unknowns as we head into the dog days of Summer. Let me know what you think, where you agree with me, and where you may differ in opinion.
The Friars roster rebuild is nearly complete. Coach Hodgson and staff have been busy this spring building the Friars roster from the ground up. Currently the Friars have ten players on the roster with the ability to add five more. With the additions that they’ve made thus far, they seem to be mainly guys who will be major contributors on next year’s team. Now the staff is tasked with filling out the rest of the roster. In steps UNLV forward Jacob Bannarbie, who per Kevin McNamara is completing a visit at Providence.
Hearing that Providence's latest visit is from Jacob Bannarbie, played at UNLV last two seasons. Long 6-9 forward with two seasons of eligibility. Explosive athlete, Upside
At The Providence Crier, we take pride in keeping the readers up to date on all things high school and portal recruiting. With the hiring of Bryan Hodgson, I was thinking about editing our last version of the 2027 Recruiting Primer that we put together while Kim English was at the helm, but who knows if any of those guys previously offered by PC will still have committable offers.
Thus, we are starting from scratch. If you want to take a look at the previous 2027 Recruiting Primer, feel free below. I’m certain there will be names offered by the prior staff that also get offers from Hodgson.
Mike and I will be updating this daily as news comes in with new offers, visits being set, etc.
Below, we’ll list the 2027 recruits with offers, and I also added a section of players I think should be offered by the Providence staff for a multitude of different reasons.
We have talked the past few days about two remaining needs for the 2026-2027 Friars before we deem the roster complete and no longer lacking any holes. One of those pressing needs was a lead guard to complement ascending talent Gavin Hightower. Providence has checked the box on one of those needs with the transfer commitment of Georgetown point guard Malik Mack.
Mack may have been playing on a basement dweller in Georgetown the past two years, but who are we to judge? The past two years for Providence have been abysmal, so I think it’s fair to wipe the slate clean for Mack and Georgetown and objectively analyze how he performed at the Big East level the last two years.
We go into detail on his game, what he does well, what he needs to improve on, and what he’ll bring to Providence.
NEWS: Georgetown transfer guard Malik Mack has committed to Providence, a source told @On3.
European pros have infiltrated the college game these past few seasons. Last season you saw the Friars embrace this trend by adding Estonian guard Stefan Vaaks and Latvian big man Peteris Pinnis in the offseason.
This year under new head coach Bryan Hodgson and staff that trend doesnt seem to be changing anytime soon. The Friars got a commitment from Italian wing Leonardo Marangon, who played professionally for UEB Gesteco Cividale in Italy’s Serie 2 division.
We provide a glimpse into his game and what he’ll bring to the 2026 Friars.
The roster is starting to crystallize for the 2026-2027 season for the Providence Friars. Last night’s commitment of Northwestern big man Arrinten Page gives Providence a nice 1-2 punch at the 5 position with Page and Yale transfer big Samson Aletan.
Page’s commitment is a massive win for the Friars. His career has been up and down, but when the motor is on and engine is running consistently, he’s has shades of an NBA big. I found myself wondering why he wasn’t more of a wanted commodity and known name this portal cycle, and I have to think it was because of the following:
1. Northwestern’s lack of success
2. His hot/cold streak. One game he looks like an NBA big. Another game he is a no-show.
3. This being his first year in three years of college producing.
Whatever the case, Providence is looking to build off Page’s breakout junior season at Northwestern.
He has untapped potential that many big men do not possess. He has the tools, and you hope Hodgson and staff can turn that potential into consistent production.
Arrinten Page would a good get for Providence.
Not totally sure what happened at NW this year, but he showed some awesome flashes in the beginning of the year.
Has some real passing stuff + is a physical beast.
We break down the commitment below and project Page’s roster fit for 2026-2027.
Arrinten Page becomes the 6th player added to the Friars via the portal. We will have a commitment article out at some point tomorrow but until then check out the preview article we wrote earlier this week ICYMI.
The Friars got on the board with the first big man addition to the team yesterday with Samson Aletan, but the staff is not done. Insert Arrinten Page, who was spotted on campus today, the 6-11 big man from Northwestern. Page had previous stops at USC and Cincinnati before finally breaking out for the Wildcats this past season. He started 16-of-29 games and averaged 10.2 PPG (54.6% FG), 4.5 RPG, 1.8 APG, and 1.2 BPG.
Providence is on a heater with landing several commitments over the past week, and PC is looking to close on Northwestern lead guard Jayden Reid as the next Shark sighting.
Hodgson and Staff have done an elite job of building out their wing with additions of Byrd, Vanterpool, Sabol, and Pate, while retaining Mela, and they yesterday added their first frontcourt player in Yale center Samson Aletan. I’d look to see Providence add another true center to the roster and a utility frontcourt player like a Jerald Colonel to have three game ready bodies in the frontcourt.
Now, the glaring gap in the roster is a true point guard. Gavin Hightower was a fantastic addition, as I think he’s going to be a first off the bench guard, but it would be a lot to ask a true sophomore who only played 10 minutes a game last year in the American to come in and run the show for a Big East squad. Hodgson needs to add a veteran lead guard to run point for this roster, and Jayden Reid just may be the guy.
NEWS: Memphis is involved with Northwestern G Jayden Reid (@jaydenreid0), source confirms to me.
Auburn, VCU, Kansas State, Texas A&M + others are also reportedly involved. Averaged 10.1 PPG and 5 AST on 39/32/82 splits.
Bryan Hodgson and his staff had another surprise in store for Wednesday evening. After learning earlier in the day that Buffalo’s all-time leader in three points made in a season, Ryan Sabol, was committing to Providence it seems that would be all the commitments for the day. After all there were no shark gifs from Bryan Hodgson’s twitter account after Sabol’s commitment.
Well Sabol wasn’t the only commitment to Friartown that’d be announced Wednesday. The shark gif was just a little late.
Yale big man Samson Aletan committed to Providence, and the Friars have their first true big on the roster. We discuss the impact of his commitment and fit with the 2026-2027 Friars below.
