Name: Caelum Swanton-Rodger
Height/Weight: 6-foot-10, 220 pounds
Class: Freshman
High School Stats: 21 ppg, 11 rpg, 4 bpg
Before Maryland
Swanton-Rodger is a Canadian big man that comes from Calgary, Alberta. Swanton-Rodger played for the Edge School which is a private school up in Alberta, Canada. He also played on the AAU circuit for team Uplay, who has has NBA stars RJ Barrett and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander play for them in the past. Swanton-Rodger competed on the Canadian U16 team at the 2019 FIBA Americas Championships as well as the BioSteel All Canadian game in 2022. Swanton-Rodger in the Marquee Hoops Circuit averaged a very good 21 points, 11 rebounds, and four blocks per game.
Outlook for 2022/2023 season
“Caelum is a great addition for our incoming freshman class” said head coach Kevin Willard on the Canadian big man. “He is a high-motor center who is extremely active around the rim and on the defensive end. He’s very effective in pick-and-roll situations because of his athleticism around the basket.” Swanton-Rodger is lengthy which helps him a lot on the defensive end of the court. He is a solid shot blocker and his length and height help him bring in lots of rebounds as well. One knock against Swanton-Rodger though is how will he be able to hang in there against the big men of the Big Ten. With his inexperience and being just 220 pounds at 6-foot-10, big men in the Big Ten who are very much more of the bruising type will typically take advantage of the kind of matchup every day. So getting in the weight room and simply gaining experience in practice and in games would for huge for Swanton-Rodger so that he can back down and stand his ground against the bigger big men in the Big Ten.
One way for Swanton-Rodger to be successful this season is if he can put in solid minutes coming off the bench in the center spot. The Terps as a whole are already going to be an undersized team against most of their competition. If Swanton-Rodger can come off the bench and handle business down in the post on both sides of the court it will immensely help the team out and help Julian Reese and Patrick Emilien so that they do not have to be on the court just about every minute of every game. I will more than likely be a chess match every game between Willard and opposing coaches when it comes to using Swanton-Rodger unless Reese and/or Emilien were to get in foul trouble. While you do want to give those guys rest you would prefer them to be in the game while the starting big men of the opposing teams are out there. But if Swanton-Rodger ends up being able to hold his own against those guys look for this team to be a better rebounding and defensive team then expected. Nonetheless, with Scott gone and Reese a prime candidate for the 2023 NBA Draft, Swanton-Roger gives Willard and the staff a centerpiece for the future frontcourt.
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