What It Means: Vanderbilt Basketball Lands Four-Star Sharpshooter Declan Griffiths – Sports Illustrated

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NASHVILLE—Vanderbilt basketball has landed a commitment from four-star guard Declan Griffiths, per a report from Joe Tipton. 
Griffiths is a 6-foot-7 sharpshooter and is ranked as a four-star prospect and top 50 player in the 2027 high school class, per Rivals. He visited Vanderbilt over the weekend and also visited Boston College and Butler, while also receiving offers from programs like Providence, Ole Miss, and others.
Vanderbilt will look to develop Griffiths' game as a whole, but it knows it has one of the most dynamic shotmakers in the 2027 class in him. Griffiths has significant gravity as a shotmaker and is the type of shooter that Vanderbilt coach Mark Byington will often look to get involved by running him off of pindowns and flairs.
Griffiths has flashed some athleticism while attacking closeouts and making straight-line drives to the basket. He won't create his own shot much, but likely won't be asked to much with Vanderbilt–which has a strong core of young playmaking guards.
"Griffiths is a shooting specialist on the wing with good positional size," 247 Sports analyst Adam Finklestein wrote in his evaluation. "He’s averaging almost 3 made threes per game, and taking nearly 80% of his total shots from behind the arc. We’re already seeing he’s the type of shooter that can be leveraged in a playbook, as his team runs him off various types of screening actions, but specifically flairs, where he seems to be especially comfortable."
Vanderbilt landed Griffiths to be its first commit in the 2027 high school class, but is pushing hard for blue-chip wing Malachi Jordan and appears to be entrenched in a battle with Kansas for him. Byington and company have seen a significant uptick in the level of high school recruit that they've been able to land in recent months–after adding five-star wing Gabe Nesmith on the back of three top 100 high school players in the class of 2026.
Byington predicted he could do that when he took the Vanderbilt job.
“Vanderbilt is committed, and they want to be successful. And that matches my vision,” Byington said at his introductory press conference. “It’s a great league, and we’re going to find players who aren’t scared of a challenge.” 
Now, he's got another player that doesn't appear to be afraid of a challenge.
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Joey Dwyer is the lead writer on Vanderbilt Commodores On SI. He found his first love in college sports at nearby Lipscomb University and decided to make a career of telling its best stories. He got his start doing a Notre Dame basketball podcast from his basement as a 14-year-old during COVID and has since aimed to make that 14-year-old proud. Dwyer has covered Vanderbilt sports for three years and previously worked for 247 Sports and Rivals. He contributes to Seth Davis' Hoops HQ, Basket Under Review and Mainstreet Nashville.
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