In a case of if you can’t stop him, sign him, Will Wade corralled another big man Friday.

The McNeese State head coach stayed in the Southland Conference and added Jeremy Brewer Jr. from Texas A&M-Commerce.

Brewer scored 32 points in the league opener against Wade and the Cowboys last year as McNeese struggled to beat the Lions on the road. 

That left Wade impressed and joking about how he would love to have that guy after the game.

Well, he got him as Brewer officially announced his signing on social media, becoming the latest to join the Cowboys. Wade, in his second season, is assembling a roster that is getting attention nationally.

Some publications are posting that this group is a potential preseason Top-25 team. 

The 6-foot-9, 218-pound Brewer gives McNeese a full roster as of now and fills a need as a big who can also shoot from the outside. Brewer can also take the ball to the basket as well as hit a three and is a solid defender both on the inside and outside.

As a sophomore in the Southland Conference, Brewer averaged 13.8 points and 4.7 rebounds a game while shooting 49 percent from the field. However, a foot injury shut down his season after just 19 games as he missed the second meeting with McNeese 

“He can really play,” Wade said after Brewer’s big game against his Cowboys. “We could not stop him at all.”

So impressed with the sophomore Wade went after him when he hit the transfer portal.

Brewer was a preseason all-conference pick last fall after a solid first year at Commerce. He played in all 33 games as a true freshman, starting 11. He averaged 8.2 points and 3.7 rebounds a game while blocking 23 shots. 

He was named the Southland’s preseason Defensive Player of the Year by the Field of 68. 

Brewer is the third big man signed by Wade since the end of last season. He joins 6-8, 217-pound Bryant Selebangue from Arizona State and Joe Charles, a 6-9 forward from Louisiana-Lafayette signed with the Cowboys. 

Overall, Brewer is the sixth newcomer to McNeese, joining a 30-4 team that won both the SLC’s regular season and tournament titles. The Cowboys earned the 12th seed in the Midwest Regional of the NCAA Tournament.

It was just their third NCAA appearance and highest seed. McNeese fell to Gonzaga in the first round at Salt Lake City, fueling Wade’s fire.

“We are going to look a lot different next season,” Wade said moments after the game. “As soon as we get off the plane back home we are going right to work.”

Wade has stated his goal is to win a game in this season’s tournament, which would be the first in program history. 

Along with the three front-line players, Wade added a trio of guards. He picked up swingman Brandon Murray from Ole Miss, who played at LSU for the McNeese coach while he was a freshman. 

Wade also signed Sincere Parker out from St. Louis and just last week picked up Quadir Coleman from Syracuse. Coleman, Parker, Murray, and Charles have been rated as four-star transfer recruits according to EvanMiya.com. Selebangue was given three stars. 

The newcomers join a roster that returns starters Christian Shumate, Javon Garcia, and Omar Cooper, along with sixth-man DJ Richards. Schumate was the Defensive Player of the Year in the Southland last season while Garcia and Richards made the All-Tournament team.

If nobody leaves, McNeese’s roster is complete.

Current Cowboy roster

Returning

• PG: TJ Brown 5-11 164 Sophomore
• PG: Omar Cooper 6-0 179 Senior
• SG: Javohn Garcia 6-3 183 Senior
• SG: DJ Richards Jr. 6-4 185 Junior
• SG: Seth Mays 6-3 191 Freshman
• SG: DJ Richards Jr. 6-4 185 Junior
• PG: Mike Saunders Jr. 6-0 189 Senior
• F: Christian Shumate 6-6 192 Senior

Newcomers

• Jerome Brewer Jr 6-9 216 Junior (TA&M-Commerce)
• F: Joe Charles 6-9 225 Senior (ULL)
• Quadir Coleman 6-6 200 Junior (Syracuse)
• Brandon Murray 6-5 210 Senior (Ole Miss)
• G: Sincere Parker 6-3 195 Junior (St. Louis)
• F: Bryant Selebangue 6-8 218 Senior (Arizona State)