Why did 5-star recruit Trinity Jones decommit from Clemson WBB? Coach explains
Last fall, five-star recruit Trinity Jones made national news when she committed to coach Shawn Poppie and the Clemson women’s basketball team.
Jones, the No. 7 overall recruit in the country per 247Sports, became the highest-ranked player to commit to the Tigers in the modern recruiting era. She formally signed her scholarship agreement with Clemson in November.
The Tigers had “big plans” for Jones, Poppie told The State last month at ACC spring meetings in Amelia Island, Florida.
“But when we got to the spring, things just didn’t align the way they did in the fall,” he said. “So I really felt like it was best that we both move in different directions.”
On April 4, Clemson released Jones from her binding scholarship agreement. Jones’ decommitment came less than a week after she played in the 2026 McDonald’s All-American Game and talked about her excitement to join Clemson.
Jones wound up signing with Big Ten school Maryland on April 23. In his first public comments about the situation, Poppie said losing Jones was “unfortunate” for Clemson but he wished the five-star recruit “nothing but the best.”
Poppie on 5-star’s departure: ‘No bad feelings’
Poppie – who led Clemson to 21 wins and a NCAA Tournament appearance in his second season – declined to give specifics on Jones’ sudden decommitment. He did offer some insight on how his program handles player compensation.
In an effort to minimize distractions, Poppie said, he decided the Clemson women’s basketball team wouldn’t formally sign any players to revenue-sharing and/or NIL contracts for 2026-27 until the current season ended. This rule applied to returning players and incoming recruits such as Jones.
“There’s a lot of moving parts, and, really, if we signed a contract in the fall, it would’ve been ripped up and started over anyway because the (NCAA) rules changed,” Poppie said. “And some say maybe that’s a gamble. It is what it is. I feel like for us, we’re on our word.”
Jones, a 6-foot-1 guard, averaged 28.5 points, 8.2 rebounds, 2.8 steals and 2.3 assists per game as a senior at Naperville Central High School in Illinois and broke the school’s single-game scoring record previously held by Candace Parker.
Given her talents and accolades, it goes without saying Jones would’ve been one of the highest paid players on Clemson’s 2026 women’s basketball roster.
When Jones committed to Clemson last fall, her other finalists were Tennessee, LSU, UCLA and TCU (schools with larger revenue-sharing/NIL budgets than Clemson). After reopening her recruitment, she also considered Baylor and Oklahoma.
Speaking broadly, Poppie said a lack of alignment between Clemson and Jones in the spring prompted the two sides to mutually part ways.
“I’m not holding something against an 18-year-old kid,” Poppie said. “If that’s a decision that she and her family and circle, I guess you could say, think is best, I thought it was for us, too. And so no bad feelings, no harsh feelings. I think it’s 2026, and we’re all evolving with the times.”
Without Jones, Tigers’ incoming class still strong
Without Jones, Clemson’s 2026 high school signing class still includes three four-star recruits and finished ranked No. 9 in 247Sports’ team rankings and No. 13 in ESPN’s rankings. By either outlet’s measure, it’s still the program’s highest ranked class in the modern recruiting era (since 2008) and top five class in the ACC.
Poppie also said the timing of Jones’ departure – she decommitted two days before the portal opened – allowed Clemson to “recover” in a way it couldn’t have if Jones left later in the spring. The Tigers signed five transfers including one, former UNC guard Taliyah Henderson, who was specifically pursued after Jones’ departure.
“When we have time to plan, which we did, we were able to fill a massive hole with a really, really good player that I think has a crazy amount of upside,” Poppie said of Henderson, a 2025 McDonald’s All-American.
Loyalty and commitment are key program values for Clemson, Poppie added, and he and his staff want the players on their roster to reflect those traits.
“Here at Clemson, you’ve gotta want to be at Clemson, want to be a part of something special and want to be here for the long haul,” Poppie said. “And I think that what we have in that locker room (for next season) is exactly that.”
