Vanderbilt received some positive news on Wednesday as head coach Bryce Drew said that prized freshman Simi Shittu should be cleared to start the season. The news was first reported by Jon Rothstein.
The 6-foot-9 Shittu tore his ACL in January as he has been going through rehab to be ready for his freshman season. Regarded as the No. 7 overall prospect in the Class of 2018, Shittu was a major coup for Vanderbilt as he’s expected to make a major impact as soon as next season.
It’ll be interesting to see if Shittu looks like his old self, or if it takes him some time to play his way into game shape and proper confidence. When he was healthy, Shittu was one of the elite players in the Class of 2018, as he was a double-double threat who was almost always productive. Vanderbilt has a strong freshman class coming in that includes Shittu, five-star point guard Darius Garland and four-star wing Aaron Nesmith.