Tongue Makes Surprise Early Pick

Thursday, October 3rd, 2019

Rivers School junior Camaron Tongue made a surprise early commitment to Santa Clara on Wednesday evening, just three days after taking his first official visit to their California campus. 

Tongue is coming off a breakout grassroots campaign with the Mass Rivals in which he emerged as one of New England's biggest 2021 stock-risers, landing his first high-major offer with increasing interest and attention from other schools at that level. 

Nevertheless, he was intrigued by the potential of going to school on the west coast and took advantage of a new NCAA rule allowing official visits in a prospect's junior year to make the trip last weekend. 

While his verbal commitment won't become binding for another 13 months, when he signs his National Letter of Intent, his pledge is undoubtedly a major steal for Santa Clara and head coach Herb Sendek. 

Beyond Tongue's increasing profile and recruitment, the rapid development of his game was on full display this spring and summer. 

Known for his combination of size and soft touch coming up the ranks, Tongue has evolved into a truly elite rebounder who pursues balls off the rim, rebounds out of his area, and capitalizes on magnetic hands to pull them down in traffic. 

Add to that his increasing offensive skill-set and ability to stretch the floor at 6-foot-7 and it's clear exactly why high-major programs were beginning to recruit him. 

At Santa Clara, Tongue should have an opportunity to be a focal point of the program sooner rather than later and potentially emerge into a mid-major star.