One of Columbia’s top basketball prospects just landed a big in-state offer
Joshua Beadle picked up his first Power Five offer this week.
On Friday, the Cardinal Newman guard got another one, from in-state Clemson. The Tigers’ offer goes along with ones from Wake Forest, Virginia Commonwealth and St. Louis he picked up this week.
“It’s exciting of course. They’ve shown a lot of interest and they came to a lot of games this year,” Beadle said Friday.
Beadle has been on Clemson’s radar for a while. He has made three visits to games, including those against South Carolina and Notre Dame. He heard from Clemson coach Brad Brownell and assistant Antonio Reynolds Dean on Friday to extend the offer.
“They like my feel for the game and think I’d be a good fit there,” Beadle said. “They are trying to recruit me as a point guard and that is what I was trying to do: facilitate more and less scoring.”
Auburn and South Carolina also have expressed interest in Beadle, and he has attended Gamecocks games.
Beadle is part of a strong Class of 2021 from Columbia. Others in the class include AC Flora’s Robert McCray and Lower Richland’s Quenton Flood and Korey Richardson and Ridge View’s Tyler Rice.
Beadle has been a part of two straight SCISA Class 3A championship teams at Cardinal Newman and was the team’s leading scorer this season. The 6-foot-3 rising senior has the ability to play either of the guard positions and college coaches like his length on the defensive end.
“Coaches love his versatility at the guard position,” Cardinal Newman coach Phillip Deter said. “He can be a point guard or shooting guard and can guard a variety of players. They also like the fact that he is a winner and has shown development each year within his game.
“His strengths are, he is a true three-level scorer with the ability to handle the ball versus any kind of pressure. He has the IQ and vision to get others involved. He is a fearless rebounder and always will do what it takes to make the team better.”
Beadle averaged 16.9 points, 6.2 rebounds and 3.8 assists this season and went over the 1,000-point mark for his career. He missed the final month of the regular season with an ankle injury but returned for Cardinal Newman’s postseason run.
He had 20 points in CN’s first playoff game against Northwood Academy and averaged 16 points, five rebounds and three assists in the Cards’ three playoff games.
“Definitely wanting to win a championship motivated me. I wanted to help these guys win a championship. I attacked rehab every single day,” Beadle said.
This story was originally published May 8, 2020 at 4:41 PM.
