Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Nevada lands first two commitments in 2014 class

cooper

Long Beach Gazette

With two of their most important players, point guard Deonte Burton and wing Jerry Evans Jr., entering their senior season, the Nevada Wolf Pack have two key holes to fill as they look to improve their standing within the Mountain West.

On Sunday the program picked up its first two verbal commitments in the 2014 class and they’re important ones, as guard Eric Cooper Jr. and power forward Kaileb Rodriguez both have the talent needed to contribute upon their arrival in Reno.

The news was first reported by Josh Gershon of Scout.com.

Cooper’s name may be familiar to some college basketball fans, as he was originally a verbal commitment to attend Arizona. But in April Cooper made the decision to reopen his recruitment, telling the Long Beach (Calif.) Gazette that he “wanted to see what’s out there.” Cooper attended St. Anthony High School in southern California last year, averaging 22.7 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. He’ll be at IMG Academy this year, contrary to the Gazette’s report in the article linked above that he would attend Brewster Academy.

As for Rodriguez, the Colorado native spent last season at Cal before making the decision to transfer to Sheridan College in Wyoming. Rodriguez didn’t see any action for the Golden Bears, and with both Richard Solomon and David Kravish back for another season there may not have been much in the way of playing time available to Rodriguez.

At 6-9, 225, Rodriguez would give Nevada some additional size inside, and spending a year at a school where he’ll get playing time should help with his development. Nevada head coach David Carter added four newcomers from the junior college ranks to the front court this offseason, including juniors Chris Brown (6-11; West Texas College) and A.J. West (6-9; Monroe (N.Y.) College).

How well those newcomers come together will go a long way towards determining how successful the Wolf Pack can be in the Mountain West, because the perimeter rotation is in good shape. Burton is one of the best point guards in the country and Evans can defend multiple positions, and Nevada will have additional scoring punch due to the presence of sophomore Marqueze Coleman and UTEP transfer Michael Perez.

Follow @raphiellej