On a bus ride to a recent game, College of Charleston basketball coach Earl Grant realized he had a story to tell his team about how quickly life can change. It was from Grant’s first season as a Clemson assistant, when a walk-on who barely played was the Tigers’ best athlete.



“It is a very unique thing,” Grant said. “But I really haven’t shared it with anybody.”



The story begins with growing buzz. DeAndre Hopkins caught 52 passes as a freshman at Clemson, yet as the 2010 football season came to a close, word spread that the receiver wanted to hoop, too.



Hopkins grew up in the area, so the basketball team’s upperclassmen had already heard, as one former player put it, “the legends of Nuk.” Like the time Hopkins’ long arms locked down future UNC point guard Kendall Marshall.



“You better be glad Roy Williams ain’t here,” one of Hopkins’ teammates told Marshall.