Thoughts on Cory Stanton

When I first heard the news on Cory Stanton’s transfer, it was a surprise.

On the surface, Stanton hadn’t recently given off strong signs he was going to leave. He’d returned to school last week and started classes. You’d think a kid would’ve just stayed home instead of coming back and going through that process.

But it sounds as if Stanton never completely adjusted to being so far away from his home in Springfield, Tenn. You hear “Tennessee” and it doesn’t sound like a long way, but Stanton’s hometown is northwest of Nashville and almost 400 miles from Clemson.

Stanton was a popular dude in Springfield, and he had to adjust to relative anonymity at Clemson. It’s never easy for high school stars to deal with being just another guy in college, and you have to think that afflicted Stanton to some degree.

It also didn’t help that he lost two loved ones during the 2010-11 school year. A cousin and an uncle died, and he was unable to attend one of the funerals because it was too far away for him to travel in the middle of the season.

This is not a monumental loss for Brad Brownell’s program as the coach prepares for his second season without his first signee. Stanton certainly wasn’t a great player, and nothing we saw from him last year indicated he ever would be. Yet I would contend his departure is a negative for the 2011-12 team because a) the Tigers had just seven returning players with experience to begin with, and b) Stanton, though he was far from flawless last season, had a fearless quality that can be valuable in the ACC wars.

He never seemed awed when he was on the floor, and that’s something Brownell is going to need on his second team without Demontez Stitt and Jerai Grant ... and with pressing questions about the fire in the bellies of Devin Booker and Milton Jennings ... and with the undoubted need for some freshmen to emerge right away.

I’m no recruiting junkie, but I’d have to think Stanton’s loss means the staff will have to take a hard look at another guard for the 2012 class even though the current freshman class is so guard-heavy. The Tigers are on a major hunt for some bigs who can come in and play right away, but now they’ll probably have to expand their focus in the wake of Stanton's abrupt departure.

LW