Trae Hannibal has the chance to 'be a star' at South Carolina

It’s always tough to tell for incoming freshmen how they’ll adjust to college basketball. The game’s faster, the players are bigger and stronger and it could be a serious transition for some new guys.

But, if Trae Hannibal is going through any of that, it’s hard to tell during the team’s summer workouts where he has been impressing the coaching staff in his first few weeks on campus.

“He’s got a chance to be a star. His talent, his personality, his willingness to learn, his room for growth, he is athletic, strong and explosive,” Frank Martin said. “He’s made passes in our workouts—granted it’s half court workouts, it’s not up and down and it’s three-on-three for the most part—but he’s made some decisions and passes with some explosiveness and preciseness. I haven’t had anyone here that’s passed the ball like that.”

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Hannibal is a 6-foot-1, 217-pound bulldozer of a point guard who looks like Frank Martin designed a point guard in a laboratory and out popped the Hartsville player.

If there was any doubt, just look at Hannibal’s senior season stats where he averaged 27 points, 8.6 rebounds and 4.4 assists while posting 62 points in his final high school game.

He’s bringing that now to Columbia with the hope of making an impact early in his career with his physicality and ability to bully his way to the basket offensively mixed with his athleticism on the defensive end.

It’s not a perfect game—no freshman is entering his first summer of college basketball—but he’ll get to go up against some really good players in workouts leading up to the season.

“Trae has a lot to learn. In practice he’s going up against Seventh (Woods) and AJ (Lawson) and Jair Bolden. He’s going to be forced to grow every single workout, every single day. But he brings a talent and a personality that’s pretty powerful. It grabs you right away,” Martin said. “I think we signed a pretty good in-state kid.”

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Hannibal was the Gamecocks’ first commitment in the 2019, an under the radar prospect out of Hartsville (S.C.) where he didn’t wait long to commit once getting the South Carolina offer.

Virtually unknown outside of the state, Hannibal quickly took off in the year following his South Carolina pledge, going from unranked to the No. 148 player in the country and a three-star prospect in the final Rivals150.

“I absolutely love Trae Hannibal. I saw him play on our team camp going into his sophomore year and I was like, ‘That kid’s pretty good. And no one knew about him. That’s been his story in high school. He’s never gotten the credit for how good he is. I think he’s a stud, Martin said of Hannibal when he signed.

“He’s tough as nails, he’s got hands the size of a catcher’s mitt. He passes the ball. He plays downhill. You guys that have seen him, he’s got freakish athleticism but plays with pace,” Martin said. “He plays like a basketball player. He doesn’t play like an athlete. Can you imagine when that guy gets in the weight room with Scott and starts eating college meals and nutritionist and our daily deals? When he learns how to sit on the half court line and guard the ball, think Duane Notice with elite athleticism.”