Trae Hannibal discusses monster senior year, All-American nomination

Trae Hannibal has spent his entire senior season committed to South Carolina, and has shown why the Gamecocks recruited him as he’s in the midst of a dominant senior season.

And today he could add another accolade to an already solid senior season.

Hannibal is one of six players from South Carolina nominated for the McDonalds All-American game and will find out Thursday afternoon if he officially makes one of the rosters.

“I’m blessed to be able to nominated for that out of everybody in the country,” Hannibal said. “I believe I work hard enough; I still have a lot more work to do. I just keep pushing forward, and hopefully I pray I actually get picked for it. It’s a blessing.”

Hannibal joins Chico Carter Jr., Cal Felder, Tre Jackson, Josiah James and Malcolm Wilson as South Carolina’s nominees that all have a chance at getting picked for one of the biggest high school games in the country.

The teams will be announced on the 3 p.m. edition of The Jump on ESPN and then shown again on the 6 p.m. SportsCenter as well.

For Hannibal, he earned the nomination after a blazing start to his senior season where he’s averaged 26.2 points and 8.6 rebounds through 10 games.

One of the biggest reasons for that is his improved jump shot, which has helped him shoot 52 percent this season, the best he’s done over his high school career.

“My biggest improvement has been my jump shot. That’s really stepped up a lot,” he said. “My jump shot’s been really good.”

Refining his jump shot was something the Gamecocks’ signee focused on and wanted to improve heading into his final senior season and heading into college. He could always get to the rim but knew an improved jumper would help his entire game.

“Knowing I can score at all three levels and not going to the basket and having that spacing when I get to college will be good for me,” Hannibal said. “I’ll be able to way more things than I’m doing right now.”

Hannibal will enroll this summer with the Gamecocks but has other goals on hand right now, which includes trying to get his Hartsville team as far as they can get in the region and then in the playoffs.

“I love playing fast. I try to get these guys to play as fast as possible but they’re growing in their IQ and will get there eventually. Playing the pace I’m playing, we can beat anybody in the gym.”