THE SKINNY
Height/Weight: 6-foot-8, 220 pounds
Hometown/High School: Hagerstown, MD (St. Maria Goretti)
Ranking: Unrated
Notable Offers: George Mason, Quinnipiac, Coppin State, South Alabama
THE TALE
While I’d love to tell you all about Tsimbila, he’s a bit of a mystery. According to PrepHoops.com, Tsimbala just arrived in the U.S. from Cameroon in January of 2017 and only then began playing organized basketball.
While there’s little out there on the web about Tsimbila, he appears to be a rim-running big who who touts impressive athleticism and quickness for his size. He received an offer from the Penn State staff on May 5 before making the call for the Nittany Lions on Tuesday night.
— Abdou Rachid (@abdourachid56) July 11, 2018
THE OUTLOOK
Projecting what Tsimbila could become is a fool’s errand at this point, but the tools are certainly there from an athletic standpoint.
After taking a number of backcourt players in the 2018 class, the 2019 class was always going to be small and geared toward bigs.
It appears the Nittany Lions got in on the ground floor with Tsimbila and liked what they saw. He will almost assuredly be a player who needs a redshirt year and some seasoning before making an impact at the B1G level, but the upside is evident.
As a Sixers fan, I’m all for the Nittany Lions taking on freaky athletic Cameroonian big men who are quick learners.
Welcome to Penn State, Abdou!