The St. John’s basketball program became the first high-major offer for Class of 2022 recruit Creed Williamson.
Creed Williamson is the son of Arkansas legend Corliss Williamson, or also known as “Big Nasty”.
However, it was Mike Anderson and the St. John’s Red Storm who narrowly beat out Williamson’s father’s alma mater to become his first high-major offer.
St. John’s offered the 6-foot-7 power forward hours before receiving an offer from Eric Musselman and the Arkansas Razorbacks.
Williamson also has offers from Arkansas Pine-Bluff and Oral Roberts.
Anderson and his staff offered Creed Williamson back on October 9.
The Red Storm showed interest in the forward in the summer, but waited until the fall to extend an offer to the Little Rock Christian Academy standout.
St. John’s is also battling Arkansas for Class of 2023 point guard Layden Blocker, who also picked up offers from the Red Storm and Razorbacks within a day of each other.
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Corliss Williamson played for Mike Anderson when he was an assistant coach at Arkansas under legendary head coach Nolan Richardson, winning the NCAA Championship in 1994.
In three seasons with the Hogs, Williamson averaged 19.0 points and 7.1 rebounds per game as he was also inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in 2009 and his jersey is only one of two jerseys that have ever been retired by the program.
St. John’s is eyeing a massive Class of 2022 recruiting crop, which many around the program are hoping is headlined by its own legacy prospect in Kyle Cuffe Jr.
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Clearly you would have to give an advantage to Arkansas over St. John’s in the current four-team race for Creed Williamson, but perhaps having a first-hand account of Anderson’s coaching style rather what the Arkansas program was over 20 years ago could be a benefit for the Red Storm.
St. John’s and Arkansas could be set for a rare recruiting battle for the high-energy power forward.