Trinity Jones, the No. 11 recruit in the girls' SC Next 100 Class of 2026, has committed to Shawn Poppie and Clemson, she announced Monday.
The 6-foot-1 wing from Naperville, Illinois, chose the Tigers over the likes of powerhouse programs Tennessee, LSU, TCU, Oklahoma and UCLA. She is the highest ranked recruit for Clemson since No. 15 Ruby Whitehorn in the 2022 class, and the first five-star commit for the second-year head coach.
"I chose Clemson because I knew Coach Poppie and the staff saw more than a basketball player -- they saw just Trinity, a girl who happens to be good at basketball," she told ESPN. "I trust them with helping me get to the next level."
Jones is the fourth top-50 commit for the Tigers, who also have verbal commitments from No. 27 Kimora Fields, No. 39 Julia Scott and No. 50 Meeyah Green. Jones projects to be an elite defender and effective rebounder who will put a lot of pressure on the rim at the next level.
Jones has been a member of the gold medal-winning USA Basketball team that went undefeated in the 2023 FIBA U16 Americas Championship. She missed the previous high school season with an ACL injury, though she returned for the club season with the Mac Irvin Fire on the Power 24 Circuit. Jones will finish out her high school career where it began, at Naperville Central, after spending her sophomore season at Bolingbrook and sitting out her junior season due to injury. Naperville Central is the alma mater of women's basketball legend Candace Parker.
With this 2026 class, Clemson is showing signs of raising its stock in a deep ACC, with the goal of returning to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2019. The Tigers are hoping to build on last season, Poppie's first at the helm, in which they set program records for 3-pointers made in a season.
Poppie is attempting to build a program that plays what he calls "pretty basketball".
"We're all going to touch it," he said at ACC Media Day. "We're all going to share it. We're going to space. Every movement we have is for each other. If I'm making a cut and I may not get it, but I open up the next one."
Poppie is using that philosophy on the recruiting trail, having picked up two top-100 players in the 2025 class: forward Holland Harris (No. 64) and guard Amaia Jackson (No. 100). The Tigers were predicted to finish 11th in the ACC coaches poll. They open their 2025-26 season at home against SC Upstate on Nov. 3.