5-star recruit had top SEC offers. Why she chose Clemson basketball instead
Trinity Jones was in the final hours of her official visit to Clemson when women’s basketball coach Shawn Poppie asked Jones and her mom to step into his office.
“We want to show you a video about you,” Poppie said.
Jones, a five-star recruit and one of the top players in the 2026 class, didn’t know what to expect. Then her best friend from back home popped up on the TV.
“I’m so proud of you, Trinity,” she said.
Next, a cousin: “I’m so proud of you.”
Then an uncle: “I’m so proud of you.”
And on it went. Unknown to Jones, Clemson associate head coach Chris Ayers had reached out to her mother, LaSonja Jones, ahead of her September 2025 official visit. He arranged for about 15 people close to Jones – family, friends, teachers, coaches – to send him short video clips. The instructions were simple: Speak directly to Jones, and tell her how proud you are of her. She had no idea it was coming.
“OK, there were some tears,” Trinity Jones said, laughing.
When Jones committed to Clemson in October 2025, becoming the Tigers’ highest ranked recruit in the modern era, a lot of people were surprised. Her other four finalists were LSU, Tennessee, TCU and UCLA – schools with much more successful programs and much larger NIL budgets than Clemson.
But Jones doesn’t think about it that way, she told The State. She wasn’t taking a chance on a lesser program. She was following her gut, and her gut said Clemson.
And moments like that one – the surprise video Clemson and Ayers put together to cap off Jones’ official visit – were a big part of her decision.
“No coach at any level has dug that deep into my life without me even being committed,” Trinity Jones said. “That showed it’s more than basketball here.”
“Don’t get me wrong, it was some amazing visits we had the opportunity to take,” LaSonja Jones added. “But when you can touch a kid like that? And to even think outside the box like that? She was sold. It was over. You can’t top that.”
Clemson’s persistence pays off with 5-star
A 6-foot-1 guard/forward, Jones is a consensus five-star and top 15 recruit. She was named a 2026 McDonald’s All-American earlier this week. She broke Candace Parker’s single-game scoring record at her Chicago-area high school.
So, how does Clemson get a foot in the door with a player of that caliber?
“This whole world is small,” Poppie said. “We say it all the time.”
The long and short of it: Ayers, Clemson’s lead assistant coach, had already known the family for years because he was working for Ole Miss and Yolett McPhee-McCuin when that program offered Jones her first Division I scholarship as an eighth-grader.
The Joneses also got a strong Poppie endorsement from Robert Swain, a basketball trainer they respect who works closely with Raven Thompson. Thompson was an all-conference player for Poppie at Chattanooga and now starts at Clemson.
Poppie said he called Jones and her mom during his first week on the job at Clemson, pitching the Tigers as a potential destination. It was, admittedly, a long shot.
But the concept of Jones at Clemson became less of a long shot during her junior year. She tore her ACL and missed the entire season, prompting a lot of big-time programs to back away and contact her less. Clemson, meanwhile, tripled down.
“I think it gave us a little bit of trust: ‘They believe in me regardless,’” Poppie said.
Once Jones had recovered, the Tigers were a constant presence at her AAU games. They were firmly in the race – and pulling ahead of other prominent schools.
Jones took two visits to Clemson – one official, one unofficial – before committing. With the campus, coaching staff and current roster (many of those players will be her teammates next season), Jones, a lifelong Midwesterner, said Clemson and Upstate South Carolina quickly became a “second home.”
“It was all about my comfort: My comfort with them, with the way they play,” Jones said. “And I really love them all – from the coaches to the players, I love them all.”
‘She’s got a chance to be very, very special’
Clemson rolled out the red carpet during Jones’ official visit. She spent one-on-one time with every member of the coaching staff, she and met with Clemson athletic director Graham Neff and then-university president Jim Clements.
Little moments like those helped the Tigers stand out during a busy fall stretch for Jones and her mom, who flew around the country and officially visited the campuses of Tennessee, LSU, Clemson and UCLA in roughly a month.
Jones surprised Clemson with a verbal commitment in late October.
“When you think about the top five other schools, we were different from all of them,” Poppie said. “And sometimes different means, ‘Well that makes no sense. Why would she go to Clemson?’ I thought, in her case, what made us different is why she would choose here. ... She’s got a chance to be very, very special.”
NIL and revenue-sharing money played a role in Jones’ recruitment but wasn’t a driving factor, she said. LaSonja Jones handled all financial conversations, and she and her daughter agreed money would be “the last thing we talk about” when evaluating programs. Fit was more important than a dollar figure.
“Those are the things you want to pay attention to,” LaSonja Jones said. “The coaching staff. The environment. What are their morals and their beliefs?”
Jones – the highest-ranked recruit to sign with Clemson women’s basketball since 2008 – is also part of a record-setting 2026 recruiting class. Clemson’s high school signing class includes five players and ranks No. 4 nationally per 247Sports’ rankings and No. 6 nationally per ESPN. By either measure, it’s a program best.
Jones formally signed with Clemson in November. She’ll enroll in June, hoping to make an immediate impact for a Tigers team that currently ranks in the top half of the ACC standings and is making a legitimate push for an NCAA Tournament bid.
“A lot of people were surprised,” Jones said. “A lot of people were a little upset. But at the end of the day, it’s not about them. It’s about me. And I was happy with my decision.”
This story was originally published February 4, 2026 at 7:00 AM.
