UNC Basketball: Four-star recruiting target likely to visit Tar Heels

Hubert Davis and his staff were impressed enough by four-star forward Tyler Nickel to offer him a scholarship last week. After watching him play at a tournament last weekend for a three-day span, the Tar Heels felt confident enough to add Nickel to their target list.

And with Nickel receiving an official offer, things in his recruitment should start to heat up a bit.

The 6-foot-8, 210-pound forward out of Virginia has a total of 18 offers in his recruitment so far with UNC, Virginia Tech, Iowa, LSU, N.C. State, Indiana and Penn State among the teams in pursuit to land the talented player. But so far, he’s only taken an unofficial visit to the Hokies in June.

The good news is that with a recruitment that is starting to pick up a bit, Nickel is planning on taking more visits to schools. Among the schools he wants to visit is North Carolina, as he told Rivals reporter Jamie Shaw on Sunday:

"“I have been on an unofficial to Virginia Tech so far this June. I am trying to set up visits to some other schools, too. Whether or not the visits are official or unofficial really depends on who it is, distance from my home. I am trying to set something up with NC State, North Carolina, Butler, Iowa, West Virginia and LSU, and we are currently trying to figure out the best way to do that,” Nickel said."

UNC likely getting a visit will be huge for the Tar Heels in this recruitment. Already we have seen Davis and his staff land two prospects fresh off visits with Seth Trimble and Will Shaver making up the 2022 class so far.  But with the recent interest in this surging prospect, Davis and the Tar Heels will have another chance to reel in a recruit.

Nickel also told Shaw his thoughts on UNC saying that the history of the program is “amazing” and how the offense gets guys to play within space and rhythm on offense and get up and down.

The forward is an ideal fit for UNC’s offense as he can score from anywhere on the court and be a legit threat on the perimeter. That’s something that the Tar Heels have struggled with over the past two years and are in desperate need of finding legit shooters on the wing.

Nickel ranks No. 79 overall, No. 22 small forward and the No. 4 player in the state of Virginia per the 247Sports recruiting rankings.

For more on Nickel and other UNC Basketball recruiting targets, please check back with Keeping It Heel.