UConn’s Poffenbarger enrolling this weekend
There’s about to be a new Husky on campus.
Class of 2021 prospect Saylor Poffenbarger, who signed with UConn in November, plans to arrive in Storrs this weekend after finishing high school early.
Poffenbarger, a 6-foot-2 wing from Middletown High School in Maryland, is ranked No. 30 in her class by ESPN.
“I know Saylor’s really excited,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said in a statement. “This is an unprecedented event for us for a lot of reasons, but this is an unprecedented year. Opportunities have presented themselves that weren’t available for the past. I’m excited for Saylor and her family that they wanted to take advantage of this opportunity and I can’t wait to coach her in practice and have her as part of the team.”
Poffenbarger is the sixth Top 100 player in her class to make the jump early, an option that was presented to high school seniors in October when the NCAA granted all Division I athletes competing during the 2020-21 season an extra year
of eligibility.
Dominique Darius, the 26th-ranked prospect, enrolled early at UCLA in December, and has already played two games. Knisha Godfrey (Mississippi State, No. 40), Madison Conner (Arizona, No. 71), Jess Finney (Washington, No. 94) and Ally Van Timmeren (Boston College, No. 95) have followed.
According to the Frederick News-Post, who first reported Poffenbarger’s decision, Poffenbarger plans to take 12 credits of college courses online. After quarantining for 10 days upon her arrival, she’ll be allowed to participate in practices and games for the Huskies, all while maintaining four years of eligibility.
“I’m excited to be around people and have a schedule — a set schedule — and be able to compete and kind of go back to some normalcy,” Poffenbarger told the NewsPost.
Poffenbarger averaged 21.2 points, 12.7 rebounds and 5.7 assists as a junior, despite a nagging hip injury that eventually required surgery. She was medically cleared in October, but had her senior season wiped out
due to COVID-19 restrictions.
She also has experience on the international stage, winning a gold medal for USA Basketball at the 2019 FIBA Americas U16 championship where she averaged 7.2 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.7 assists.
Poffenbarger was part of a UConn class that includes consensus top prospect Azzi Fudd, Caroline Ducharme and Amari DeBerry. Collectively, ESPN ranked the class No. 2 in the country.
Poffenbarger was described as an “elite, elite role player” by national recruiting expert Shane Laflin, and figures to add length to the lineup while stretching the floor with her 3-point shooting.
“She can fill a perimeter hole, she can play a little bit at the four spot, she has range, she can stretch you, she’s a good passer,” Laflin said on a recent Hearst Connecticut Media podcast.
Auriemma also likes Poffenbarger’s versatility, saying after National Signing Day that the Huskies “needed somebody that could play a lot of different positions and had a feel for the game.”
UConn’s roster is now at 12 players, seven of whom are freshmen. Poffenbarger plans to wear No. 4.
‘JUST TOO COMPLICATED’
Fudd and Ducharme, the highest-ranked players in this year’s UConn class, will not be arriving early. DeBerry has yet to reveal her plans.
Ducharme, a 5-10 guard from Noble & Greenough School in Massachusetts, told Hearst Connecticut Media that there were a few factors that kept her from leaving for Storrs at this time, even though the possibility was enticing.
“Had I stayed I wouldn’t get a Noble diploma, and that’s something that was really important to me,” she said. “Also, our season hasn’t been canceled yet, so I wanted to stay and finish the season with my teammates here.”
Fudd, a 5-11 guard from St. John’s College High in Washington, D.C., considered it as well, but ultimately chose not to speed up her academic timeline.
“Everything’s timing,” her father, Tim, said. “It’s just too complicated. You just have to trust the timing.”