Leonard Hamilton emphatically acknowledged that Florida State would land 3-4 gamers from the switch portal. He delivered on a part of that promise in current week in touchdown Josh Nickelberry (La Salle) and Jamir Watkins (VCU), with the college confirming each additions on Wednesday.
Nickelberry (6-foot-4, 205 kilos) was named the Sixth Man of the Year within the Atlantic 10 as he averaged 10.9 and a couple of.7 rebounds whereas capturing .401 from past the 3-point arc in the course of the 2022-23 season. He made a team-leading 79 3-point photographs and shot a team-leading .803 from the free-throw line in incomes Philadelphia Big 5 honors.
“Josh is a really basically sound participant who has confirmed himself to be an excellent shooter throughout his collegiate profession,” Hamilton stated in an announcement. “He is skilled, has performed in a ton of excessive depth video games throughout his profession, and is a superb addition to our roster. The expertise Josh has gained, and the model of basketball he has performed all through his profession makes us a greater staff instantly.”
The fourth-year guard completed tied for fourth within the Atlantic 10 in 3-point area objectives made (79), sixth within the convention in 3-pointers made per sport (2.3), and seventh within the convention in 3-point area objective proportion (.401).
Nickelberry is a local of Fayetteville, N.C., and can play his fifth collegiate season in 2022-23 after taking part in two seasons at Louisville (2020 and 2021) and two at La Salle (2022 and 2023). Coming out of Oak Hall (Va.) Academy, Nickelberry stated FSU was one in every of his finalists. He introduced his dedication final week however pledged to Hamilton when the coach visited him in Philadelphia a number of weeks in the past.
He enters his closing collegiate season having performed in 87 profession video games with 40 begins. Nickelberry will play as a graduate switch at Florida State as he’s set to earn his Bachelor’s Degree in Communications from La Salle in May. His cousin, Kevin Nickelberry, has been employed by FSU as an assistant coach.
Watkins (6-7, 201) helped lead VCU to the NCAA Tournament in March and to the NIT in 2022. He scored eight factors and earned 4 rebounds within the Rams’ victory over ACC common season co-champion Pitt (Nov. 17, 2022), scored 13 factors in a win over Vanderbilt (Nov. 30, 2022) and totaled a double-double of 14 factors and 10 rebounds at Memphis (Nov. 20, 2022).
“Jamir will play in his fourth season as a collegiate student-athlete starting this fall,” Hamilton stated in an announcement. “He was extremely recruited out of highschool and performed in 61 video games whereas he was a VCU. Jamir goes to assist us as a result of he’s an athletic wing, can shoot the basketball and needs to play protection. He averages a couple of steal a sport for his profession and blocked 23 photographs this previous season.”
Watkins, who’s from Trenton, N.J., was VCU’s fourth-leading scorer along with his 9.5 factors per sport scoring common this previous season. He made 36 3-point photographs as a sophomore and made 58 lengthy vary photographs in his two seasons at VCU.
FSU will reportedly host Georgetown guard Primo Spears on April 27.
