Georgetown Athletics
For the first time under Head Coach Ed Cooley, the Georgetown University men’s basketball team has no first-year players on its roster. While the Hoyas added six high-major players in the transfer portal who promise to be key components this season, they have focused their high school recruiting efforts on the class of 2026.
The recent approval of the House settlement allowing colleges to directly pay student-athletes has upended recruiting. The settlement’s framework permits institutions to spend $20.5 million across all sports on their players.
Georgetown also faces its own challenge. Former Assistant Coach Kenny Johnson left this summer for Indiana University. Johnson, prior to his job on Cooley’s staff, was a coach with the Team Takeover (TTO) AAU basketball organization. Once at Georgetown, he helped recruit multiple TTO graduates to the Hilltop — Malik Mack, Caleb Williams, DeShawn Harris-Smith and Isaiah Abraham.
Cooley tapped former University of Virginia Associate Head Coach Jason Williford, who has his own deep recruiting connections in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. Williford’s hiring means that the TTO pipeline may still be intact — his son, Austin Williford, now playing at St. Joseph’s University, was a TTO player throughout high school.
Georgetown has already secured one commitment for next year, 6’9” forward Justin Caldwell. Caldwell, who plays for Fayetteville Academy in North Carolina, is a consensus four-star recruit. Caldwell chose the Hoyas over high-major competition including the University of Maryland, University of South Carolina and Villanova University.
Cooley and his staff have been heavily recruiting other standout high school players, too.
Five-star guard Jordan Smith Jr. has to be at the top of any recruiting big board. Smith, from Fairfax, Va., is ranked as the No. 2 player in his class by ESPN. Smith is yet another TTO player. Smith was selected for the United States’ gold-medal under-19 FIBA World Cup team, for which he was a starter and averaged 8.4 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.6 assists in the tournament.
Smith recently announced six finalists in his recruitment to On3 Sports’ Joe Tipton. He included Georgetown, alongside Duke University, University of Kentucky, Indiana University, University of Arkansas and Syracuse University.
Along with Smith, the Hoyas have maintained significant interest in other local players.
Qayden Samuels, a five-star guard who plays at Bishop McNamara High School in Forestville, Md., has also been a top target for Georgetown. Samuels took an official visit to the Hilltop campus Sept. 5-7. Samuels also received interest from Kentucky but canceled a visit to Lexington at the end of August. ESPN ranked Samuels as the 10th-best recruit in the country, and he would mark a significant get for Georgetown.
Alex Constanza, a four-star forward, also took an official visit to campus this summer. Constanza has also visited the University of Kansas, University of Illinois and Syracuse. The 6’8” guard would be a significant contributor on both ends of the court and a dynamic addition who could become an NBA prospect.
The Hoyas also made it into the finalist lists for a pair of four-star forwards, Jayden Hodge and Luca Foster. Hodge plays for Montverde Academy, a Florida prep school with a pedigree of developing professional-level talent — including Cooper Flagg, Cade Cunningham and Derik Queen. Luca Foster, a Pennsylvania native who plays for Link Academy, a prep school in Missouri, received other offers from Big Ten and SEC schools, along with Big East rival Villanova.
The Hoyas have focused heavily on forward recruiting in the class of 2026, but will probably look to move some to more of a guard role as they make the transition to college.