UNC Basketball: 4-star recruit talks UNC offer, timeline for commitment

4-star UNC basketball target Tyler Nickel talks about his recent scholarship offer from the Tar Heels, and when he plans to make a commitment.

Class of 2022 prospect Tyler Nickel picked up his latest scholarship offer last week from first-year head coach Hubert Davis and the North Carolina Tar Heels.

The offer is Nickel’s 18th, and adds to a list that already includes Cincinnati, Creighton, Indiana, Iowa, LSU, NC State, VCU, Virginia Tech and West Virginia. For the Tar Heels, Nickel’s is one of a dozen open scholarship offers currently out to 2022 prospects — 14 if you count the offers accepted by 4-star point guard Seth Trimble and 3-star center Will Shaver.

Nickel talked about his relationship with Davis and the UNC coaching staff in a recent interview with WHSV3, noting that they wanted to watch him play one more time prior to extending a scholarship offer, something they did just a day after watching him rack up 64 combined points in two games.

"“They have been keeping pretty consistent contact but after that (Davis) was telling me how he wanted to see me in person before he went forward with anything,” said Nickel. “Then this team camp we just played in in Winston-Salem, (Davis) and all three (UNC) assistant coaches were there…and they saw a game on Sunday and apparently they saw what they needed to see.”"

Nickel’s performance in front of the UNC coaching staff on Sunday followed an offensive clinic from the day prior in which he notched back-to-back double-doubles — 31 points and 10 rebounds and 36 points and 11 rebounds, respectively — while showcasing a tremendous amount of versatility and that 6-foot-8-inch, 210-pound frame of his.

Nickel has also stated that while he plans to make recruiting visits to North Carolina and others in the near future, he doesn’t intend to cut down his list of schools until September, and hopes to make a commitment some time in November.

A native of Elkton, Virginia, Nickel averaged 33.7 points, 10.1 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game last season at East Rockingham. He’s the No. 70 prospect in the nation according to the 247Sports Composite. He’s 17th among small forwards in the class, and No. 1 in the state of Virginia. He’s a bit lower in the Rivals150 at No. 96 overall, and the 27th wing in the class of 2022.

Check back with Keeping It Heel for all the latest on the Tyler Nickel recruitment, and everything on the UNC basketball program.