The Florida State men's basketball team pulled a big transfer out of the portal on Wednesday afternoon when Brown University senior forward Jaylan Gainey verbally committed to FSU on social media.
Gainey, an All-Conference performer and two-time Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year, is set to join FSU and head coach Leonard Hamilton for the 2022-23 season.
Last week, Gainey visited FSU and came away impressed enough to announce his intentions to join the 'Noles.
The 6-foot-9 forward led the conference in blocks per game in each of the past two Ivy League seasons.
Last season, Gainey started all 29 games for Brown and averaged 9.3 points and 6.9 rebounds per game to go along with his defensive prowess.
Gainey joins an FSU roster that could return a freshman trio of Matthew Cleveland, John Butler and Jaley Warley, among several other solid pieces like leading scorer Caleb Mills.
He selected FSU over Duke, Virginia, Georgetown, N.C. State, and Virginia Tech.
In 65 career games, Gainey has 124 career blocks (116 the past two seasons), over 400 points and over 300 rebounds. He also owns an impressive 69.9 percent career shooting percentage from the floor.
Gainey brings experience, as his freshman season was actually 2018-19 and his original junior year was canceled in 2020-21 due to COVID-19.
The Brown transfer will help fortify a front line that recently saw two players enter the transfer portal -- centers Marcus Ballard and Alaaeddine Boutayeb. Ballard had played sparingly this past season, and Boutayeb had yet to contribute.
