Evaluating Freshman Impact: Duke's Cam Boozer

Duke’s Cameron Boozer projects to be one of the best players, let alone freshmen, in all of college basketball come next season. That’s with the instant impact he’s expected to have, which could earn him several All-ACC or even All American-type honors in what’s anticipated to be his lone year in Durham.

On3 Insider Jamie Shaw, in a conversation this week with On3’s James Fletcher III, took a look at several of the incoming freshmen in college this upcoming season, including Boozer. Shaw is expecting Boozer to be known early on with the Blue Devils with the stats he’ll put up as soon as he takes a collegiate court.

“One guy we didn’t even get to touch on was (Cam) Boozer,” said Shaw. “You know, he’s another one kind of along the lines of (Darryn) Peterson where he’s going to come in this year and he’s going to put astronomical numbers from day one. I mean, you can pencil him in for 18 (points), 7.5 (rebounds), and 2.5 assists from the jump and possibly just grow from there. He’s going to be on the biggest stage with Duke. You know, so, he’s going to put up numbers.”

Boozer, a Miami native, was the No. 3 overall recruit, behind only AJ Dybantsa (BYU) and Peterson (Kansas), as a Five-Star+ prospect in the 2025 recruiting cycle. He’s rated at No. 1 as the top power forward in the class and player out of the state of Florida. That’s according to Rivals’ Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

That’s after a high school career which Boozer spent playing at Columbus, where he won four-straight state titles and capped off his career with a national title at the 2025 Chipotle Nationals. He’d also be, while there, named Florida Mr. Basketball three times, Gatorade National Player of the Year twice, a representative in Jordan Brand Classic and Nike Hoop Summit, and a McDonald’s All-American. That’s not even to mention what all he accomplished in AAU or when representing the country as part of Team USA in a pair of events with FIBA.

That’s quite the decorated resumé for someone two weeks out from turning 18. Now, Boozer, following in the footsteps of Carlos Boozer, his father and a Duke Athletics Hall of Famer, is with the Blue Devils after committing to the program amidst national interest, including in-state teams for him like Florida and Miami. He’s now the centerpiece of the No. 1 class in 2025 per Rivals; Industry Team Recruiting Rankings, alongside Cayden Boozer, his twin brother, along with Nikolas Khamenia, Sebastian Wilkins, and Dame Sarr.

Again, there’s little questioning of what Boozer is about to be at the college level. He’s expected to be the next freshman phenom for another top-ranked team for the Blue Devils.

However, when it comes to what’ll be a loaded class for the 2026 NBA Draft, where Boozer slots is a little more uncertain. The floor with Boozer is believed to be high enough where he surely wouldn’t slide past the top-five prospects or so, pending what happens over the next year until June. Comparing his floor to the ceilings of some of these other top names, though, is a line of thinking that Shaw wants to see play out for professional franchises going into next year’s draft process.

“It’s going to be very interesting to kind of just watch, as I talked about in the very beginning as we mentioned, to see, kind of draft philosophies of these teams. How does the high floor of a Boozer match with the high ceiling of a (Chris) Cenac? What do you do with that? Somebody who might have averaged 11 and 4, like a Cenac, in college, against somebody who, you know, and who was a First Team All-American averaging 19 and 8 in Boozer and has the pedigree and stuff? How do you measure that against one another in NBA front offices?” wondered Shaw. “A lot of times, there’s not a wrong answer. Five years down the road, we can see a wrong answer but, in the moment, you know, it can be very difficult.”

That’ll all play out as it will over the next twelve months. The focus now is on what Boozer will do as the next top freshman, and member of his own family, to have joined The Brotherhood.