Westtown (Pa.) 2014 G/F Jared Nickens committed to Maryland on Sunday. (Photo: Josh Verlin)
Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Westtown (Pa.) wing Jared Nickens has verbally committed to Maryland during a visit to the Atlantic Coast Conference school.
“Maryland is a great choice for a great kid, player and student,” Westtown coach Seth Berger told CoBL by text. “I’m really proud of how far Jared has come and I know he will have an immediate impact as a freshman.”
Nickens’ decision was first reported by The Washington Post’s Alex Prewitt.
The 6-foot-6 wing had caught the eye of a number of mid-high major programs with his length and shooting ability, but in the April live recruiting period his impressive play at both the Pitt and Philly Hoop Group Jam Fests had schools from the Big East, ACC and AAC offering. Back on June 2, he told he CoBL he had offers from “Miami, Maryland, Wake Forest, Dayton, Temple, Providence, Rutgers and Oregon State.”
(More on Nickens: check out his CoBL Recruiting Profile)
In his junior season at Westtown, a boarding school out in West Chester, Nickens averaged 15.93 ppg, hitting 66 3-pointers and shooting 76.9 percent on free throws.
Nickens joins an already loaded 2014 guard-heavy class (ranked 3rd in the nation according to ESPN) at Maryland. Before the addition of Nickens, the Terrapins held 2014 commitments from Bishop O’Connell (VA) guard Romelo Trimble and Potomac guard Dion Wiley. Trimble verbally committed to play for coach Mark Turgeon back in December, but has seen his stock skyrocket as a result of a stellar AAU summer campaign with DC Assault.
Barring any early entries to the NBA Draft or transfers, the Westtown wing will join a group consisting of guard Dez Wells, guard/forward Nick Faust, guard/forward Jake Layman, guard Roddy Peters, Trimble, and Wiley. Faust and Wells will both be seniors when Nickens arrives on campus in the fall of 2014. Faust and Layman split time on the wing during the 2012-2013 regular season, so Nickens will likely come off the bench during his freshman campaign.
Seeing as Maryland doesn’t currently have a strong spot-up shooter currently on their roster, the local product figures to have a significant role in the team’s plans in the coming years.