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In Savage’s first season, he had a guy like Jadyn Parker, who on the defensive end was a record-setter when it came to blocking shots, while the ones he didn’t block, he altered. However, on the other end of the floor, throwing into Parker was like throwing the ball into the ocean, which means when it went into the post, it probably wasn’t going back out and Parker wasn’t enough a scoring threat in the low-post that, if it did go back out, paint touches essentially became a non-important stat when it came to the efficiency from the perimeter, which is another area the Bucs reallyconcentrated their portal recruiting efforts on last spring.
It worked. The Bucs went from ranking 282 from three-point range in Savage’s first season as the head coach to finishing ranked 129th in the nation last season, as the Bucs shot the ball at a solid 34.7% clip from three-point range last season. With Peterson, Seymour and Buggs III being easily the team’s best three-point threats, along with Maki Johnson off the bench. With that said, another player from the portal that never really panned out last season for the Bucs was Curt Lewis, who was added to try and bolster that three-point shooting acumen even more.
If Buggs III hadn’t had to miss so much time with two concussions last season, the percentage might have been even better for the Bucs for the 2024-25 season. After so much momentum and hype heading to Asheville, despite some depth issues, there was many that had the Bucs as the favorites to win the tournament when they arrived in Asheville, quite simply because they had the two top players, in Peterson and Seymour.
Then came the disappointment of their quarterfinal loss to eventual champion Wofford, as the Bucs were out-classed and out-worked, particularly in the second half, with Wofford taking the 72-60 win to end bring a sour end to what had been that held the hopes of getting back to the NCAA Tournament and cutting down the nets at the Harrah’s Cherokee Center for the first time in five years. That came to an abrupt crash out with the opening game loss.
So what remains for 2025-26 and better yet, what was added by Savage and staff to help ensure the Blue and Gold will remain in the mix for SoCon regular-season and tournament titles again in Savage’s third season as the head coach?
So with the losses of three of the league’s top players on both ends of the floor, it almost seems like starting over with a blank canvas in some respects.
Not only do those losses effective the overall production on both ends of the floor, but all three losses also affect the team’s overall identity ETSU has established under coach Savage, which is one of both defensive grit and offensive versatility. Having to go about replacing so much production in the portal has to be attacked piecemeal, and not all at once, addressing each role and each piece to the puzzle, and how it fits within that certain team identity very carefully.
All told, the Bucs must replace nine of their top 12 producers from a year ago, which is pretty much everyone. The three holdovers are veteran guards Allen Strothers, Gabe Sisk and Maki Johnson, which at least gives a core group that knows Savage’s coaching expectations, which help bridge the gap to such a large group of newcomers coming in for the 2025-26 season.
Leading the way is Allen Strothers, who is the old man of the group. In fact, Strothers has been among Savage’s most loyal players during his short time at ETSU, and heading into his third season at the helm, Savage will need the leadership of a player like Strothers more than ever.
Strothers, who is a player that has battled some extensive injuries throughout his Bucs career, returns off a season, which saw him serve the role as being one of ETSU’s best on-ball defenders, on the offensive end of the floor, the rising redshirt senior was a table-setter. He saw action in 31 of 32 games last season, starting eight of those games, while averaging 3.5 PPG and 2.5 APG last season in 19.3 minutes-per-game, which came primarily as the sixth man off the bench for the Bucs.
Gabe Sisk is another player that has been loyal to Savage, and the 6-5 athletic guard is one of Savage’s first freshman signees out of Ballard High School in Louisville, KY. The athletic shooting guard has served as one of the team’s strongest defenders and rebounders off the bench in his first two seasons, and after logging action in 29 games off the bench, averaging 13.1 minutes-per-game last season, he will join Strothers as a player challenging for a starting job heading into the 2025-26 season.
Sisk finished the 2024-25 season averaging 4.0 PPG and 2.8 RPG last season, and in his junior season, Sisk will hope to make that jump offensively, as Savage will need him to become more offensive-minded as a player. An improvement as being another perimeter threat that the opposition has to account for would be a good place for Sisk to start. He has shot just 22.9% (22-of-96) from three-point range in his first two seasons with ETSU.
The Bucs really made more of a concerted effort to not only add talent, but complimentary talent in both the backcourt and frontcourt. While the Bucs went out signed guard talent last season, in John Buggs III and Curt Lewis, it was more a concerted effort by Savage and staff to add size, scoring ability and depth to the frontcourt. None of those frontcourt signees ended up panning out to fill the role they were originally brought in to fill.
Savage’s third major haul from the transfer portal appears to be one that, at least on paper, looks like not only the most talented, but one that most fits the identity of what Savage is truly trying to establish and what he originally told Bucs fans and the media during his introductory press conference back in April of 2023, which was all about building a team that played fast and was offensively versatile, while being a team that was a defensively elite unit.
Savage’s first two teams as the head coach have lived up on the defensive end of the floor, however, on the offensive end, the Bucs have shown flashes but nothing like the consistency and versatility that Savage wants, which was something he was able to get out of his teams under Forbes as the offensive coordinator at Wake Forest. This mix of players brought in by Savage and staff looks more on par with the type of team identity he wants in Johnson City and the type of identity he had in Winston-Salem as the Demon Deacons’ offensive coordinator.
One of the several additions expected to make a big splash this season is 6-8 small forward Cam Morris III, who comes to ETSU from UMass-Lowell. The graduate transfer is athletic with a high-motor and is not only an impressive presence on the defensive end but was a reliable scorer in the post for the River Hawks in four seasons. In 88 games at UMass-Lowell, Morris III saw action in 88 total games, logging 44 starts, while averaging 8.6 PPG and 5.0 RPG.
This past season, Morris started 26 of 27 games for UMass-Lowell and posted 8.3 PPG and 4.7 RPG, averaging 23.7 minutes-per-game.
Joining Morris as not only a player that will come in and start right away, but could be one of the leading producers on the offensive end of the floor is sharp-shooting guard Milton Matthews out of Florida A&M.
The 6-3 shooting guard comes in having connected on at least 100 three-point field goals in each of his previous three seasons at actually started his career at NAIA St. Thomas University in Florida before making his way to Tallahassee and the NCAA Division I level to play for the Rattlers.
No matter the level, Matthews has been a problem as a perimeter threat and scorer. The District Heights, MD., product was on Savage’s radar long before he arrived at ETSU, and for Savage, who hails from Baltimore, it was a player that comes from his home state and probably gives him a little sense of satisfaction knowing that he has potentially someone to discuss Baltimore Orioles baseball–his other major passion when he isn’t coaching–with during the season.
As for Matthews and his time at FAMU during the 2024-25 season, he averaged an impressive 14.7 PPG, 3.4 RPG, and 1.7 APG, while shooting a blistering 41.6% from three-point range. He also shot a strong 81.0% from the free throw line in a total of 28 games last season. To sum up his ability as a three-point threat, Matthews connected on five or more threes in a games 22 times in 87 games he suited up for both Florida A&M and NAIA St. Thomas during the previous three seasons.
In 59 games at NAIA St. Thomas, he scored 1,101 points, which equates to an impressive 18.7 PPG scoring average, while shooting a over 40% from three-point land. He also connected at an impressive 83.7% from the charity stripe.
Simply put, Matthews is a bucket and he’s a playmaker. He’s the closest thing to cloning John Buggs III that ETSU could possibly hope for, and he is the type of player that gives Savage some options, thanks in large part to his versatility as a scorer and distributor. While Matthews is an elite perimeter threat, it’s not who he is as an offensive threat, but rather just the primary strength in a toolbox full of offensive scoring versatility. Expect Matthews to be among the SoCon’s top newcomers in 2025-26.
Former 1-A Tennessee “Mr. Basketball” and 6-8 forward Jordan McCullum and is the only one of the current recruiting haul brought in by ETSU to actually come from the Volunteer State. The Harriman, TN., played his prep basketball at both Harriman High School and Huntington Prep in Huntington, WVa, which also produced ETSU sharp-shooter Maki Johnson. McCullum played his sophomore and senior seasons at Harriman, while playing his junior campaign at Huntington Prep.
Coming out of high school, McCollum was a three-star recruit, according to 247Sports and was considered a top prospect in West Virginia in the 2024 class before opting to return to Tennessee for his senior season. McCullum would make the most of his return home, as he garnered the Tennessee Sports Writer’s Association 1-A “Mr. Basketball” award in 2024, leading the Harriman Blue Devils to an impressive 27-3 record.
In that OVC Championship game, Brian Taylor II finished with 10 points, seven rebounds, one assist and two turnovers in 29 minutes of work.
The first announced addition from the transfer portal made by Savage and staff was North Florida transfer Jaylen Smith, who will add depth at point guard and will have two years of elibility remaining upon his arrival in Johnson City. The Ocoee, FL., native finished out his sophomore season with the Ospreys in strong fashion, averaging 11.4 PPG, 5.7 APG, and 1.3 SPG, as he was able to be a factor on both ends for the Ospreys last season.
Smith finished out his sophomore campaign leading the Atlantic Sun in both assists-per-game and total assists (181), while also ranking 29th and 31st, respectively, in both of the categories mentioned above. His 181 helpers this past season ranked as the sixth-most in a single-season in program history, while he totaled 259 total assists in just two seasons with the Ospreys.
During his final season with the Ospreys, Smith connected on 34.9% (62-of-179) from three-point land. North Florida’s 409 made three-point field goals this past season led the nation, which was just ahead of Cal Poly’s 403 made triples. Smith’s solid shooting touch from long-range will also be beneficial to the Bucs, who showed awesome improvement as a team from the perimeter last season, as opposed to Savage’s rookie season as head coach in the 2023-24 season.
Smith was an A-Sun All-Freshman selection two years ago, averaging 6.5 PPG , 2.4 APG and 1.4 APG, starting 16 games for the Ospreys during the 2023-24 campaign. All told, in two seasons as the primary starter for UNF at point guard, Smith averaged 8.9 PPG, 1.8 RPG and 4.0 APG, including a 1.98 assist-to-turnover ratio and 102 made threes, which included a 32% career clip from long-range.
Rounding out the recruiting haul from the transfer portal is Brayden Crump from Elon, who joined ETSU in mid-May. The 6-8 forward is a player that the Bucs saw up close and personal this past season, as the Bucs posted a lopsided 84-58 win over the former SoCon member a week before Christmas last season. Crump would log 23 minutes off the bench at forward for Elon in that loss to ETSU, posting six points and nine rebounds.
Like Morris, who transferred in from UMass-Lowell, the biggest asset that Crump will add to ETSU’s heading into the 2024-25 season is his ability on the backboards. As a reserve this past season for CAA member Elon, Crump averaged 4.4 PPG and 3.1 RPG in 15.7 minutes-per-game off the bench for the Phoenix.
Crump, who will have three seasons of eligibilitiy remaining, redshirted his first season at Elon before logging his first time as a part of the rotation off the Phoenix bench in the 2024-25 campaign. He made appearances in a total of 31 games as a reserve for Elon, connecting on 45.4% from the field, 22.2% from the charity stripe, and 70.7% from the free throw line.
Prior to signing his NLI to play for Elon, the 6-8 forward from Morganton, N.C., played his prep basketball at Winston-Salem Christian.
Overall, Savage and his staff appear to have gone out and secured one of the top transfer portal signing classes in the SoCon heading into the 2025-26 season. One interesting alteration to Savage’s portal recruiting as opposed to his previous two seasons is that he didn’t go after a 6-10 or 6-11 center to bring into the fold.
While Jadyn Parker ended up being an absolute gem of a player on the defensive end in his one season at ETSU after coming north from Jacksonville and UNF, he was at times a liability in the post because of his lack of mid-range shot and overall comfortability in the post and around the basket.
Last season, the Bucs brought in 6-10 Davion Bradford and 6-11 Roosevelt Wheeler were brought in, as was 6-9 true freshman Brandon Crawford, with redshirt freshman David Meriweather, which was a part of Savage’s first recruiting class, already on the roster and that sent the message that the Bucs were after size and wanted to be big.
With a high success rate for finding bigs that could come in and produce from the transfer portal and JUCO ranks, as well as from the high school ranks in the recent past in Savage’s time as an assistant under Steve Forbes from 2015-2020, ETSU made the most of developing bigs like Tevin Glass, Hanner Mosquera-Perreira, Lucas N’Guessan, and Mladen Armus, who had been brought in and developed into quality big men.
There were far more success stories than ones like ended up being the fate of promising big men that didn’t pan out in the past, like Octavion Corley, were far more the exception than the rule. However, the recent trend of bringing in those 6-9-to-7-0 centers that had already made a couple of stops along the way turned out to be more of a trend that Savage and staff couldn’t afford to chance for another season, and that is each situation in which the Bucs brought in size around the basket, what ETSU actually got was under-developed and largely athletically-challenged big men that proved to be more of a net negative.
This time, the Bucs staff targeted smaller, more athletic power forwards and added depth at that position, swapping out the size/offensive development projects for the proven and more athletic commodities. As far finding guard talent, that has always been a strength for Savage as evidenced by guys like 2024-25 SoCon MVP Quimari Peterson, or 2016 SoCon Tournament MVP Greg Pryor during his time as an assistant at Chattanooga.
While there isn’t a proven scorer on the roster, Bucs fans should be excited about this new crop of portal talent brought in by Savage and his staff.
Early 2024-25 Outlook:
I’ve often said that ETSU’s brand as a basketball program is similar to some of those at the power conference level on a much smaller, mid-major scale, and that is to say that ETSU hardly ever rebuilds…it reloads.
Even during the darkest of days, which followed in the three seasons after Steve Forbes departed to become the head coach at Wake Forest, the Bucs were never thought of, at least going into any of those three seasons, as a team that didn’t have talent or wouldn’t be one that would be a surprise to challenge for a title.
So with massive losses for successful mid-major programs becoming a regular thing, it shouldn’t be something that should give ETSU fans reason to worry. The Bucs are going to again be a team to be reckoned with in the Southern Conference, and that will be true as long as Savage is in charge. That’s primarily because he knows the SoCon hoops scene, and he knows what it takes to win in this league.
With that said, with all the additions made from the transfer portal to help ETSU sustain its winning edge it has re-established in just two seasons under Savage, the young head coach has also made some additions to his staff during the off-season to further enhance ETSU’s ability to sustain its hardwood success.
One of the coaches that will be moving on from the staff is top assistant Brian Jones, who has decided to return to Bradley in the Missouri Valley Conference after two seasons under Savage with ETSU.
The new coach added to the staff is Miles Lester, who comes to ETSU from Drury University, while Cory Dixon, Kris Arkenburg, and Marcus Belcher all remain on staff for the Bucs. Dixon was elevated to assistant coach.
“I’m excited to have Miles join our staff,” said head coach Brooks Savage. “He brings a ton of enthusiasm and a high work ethic that will benefit our players daily,” Savage added in a release regarding the new additions recently put out by the school’s athletics website. A link to that article is below.
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Blake Sexton will continue in his role as an assistant coach and director of basketball operations after replacing Rob Peterson in that role prior to the 2024-25 season.
Savage recently called his staff of coaches–Dixon, Arkenburg and Belcher the best assistants he has ever worked with in his career and is looking forward to the upcoming season.
ETSU is finished recruiting from the portal, and without having looked at everyone’s recruiting haul to this point, I would venture to say the Bucs have brought in may be the best talent in the league, and have brought in their most talented crop of recruits in Savage’s short, but successful tenure as the Bucs head coach.
Starters Lost: (5) F-Jaden Seymour (out of eligibility), G-Quimari Peterson (transferred to Washington), F-Karon Boyd (transferred to Wichita State), John Buggs III (Out of eligibility), Davion C-Bradford (transferred to Tulane)
Others Lost: (8) F/C Roosevelt Wheeler (out of eligibility), F-DJ Hughes (out of elibility), G-Curt Lewis (transferred to Southern Miss), G-Timmy Fasehun (entered transfer portal/not committed), C-David Merriweather (entered transfer portal/not committed), F-Brandon Crawford (transferred/not committed), G-Jaxson Jones (transferred/not committed)
Best Returning Player: G-Maki Johnson
Potential Breakout Player in 2024-25: G-Gabe Sisk
Best Transfer Portal Get: G-Brian Taylor II (SIU-Edwardsville) or Milton Matthews (FAMU)
Best Freshman Addition: G-Maddox Huff
Overall Portal/Recruiting Synopsis and Grade: A+
