By ALEX KLINE & ADAM ZAGORIA
As the coaching carousel has been in full effect recently, a number of moves have taken a toll on recruiting. The latest has hit the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels.
2013 Findlay Prep guard Nigel Williams-Goss, a UNLV commit, decided on Saturday night that it would be best if he re-opened his recruitment.
“I didn’t feel comfortable staying committed to a coaching staff that I had no relationship with,” the 6-foot-2 star said by phone on Sunday morning. “I’m wide open to any school that is looking to recruit me, even UNLV.”
The talented guard committed to the Rebels when Lon Kruger had the head coaching job, but Kruger recently departed for the Oklahoma vacancy and plans to recruit Goss there, as well.
Prior to his commitment to UNLV, he had offers from Oregon, Oregon State, Washington and Hawaii, along with interest from Mississippi State, UCLA, USC and others.
Although Williams-Goss does not start for the Pilots, he is arguably one of their top players for next year. He is the first player to ever make the team as a freshman in the history of the program.
While he has not been contacted by any schools just yet, look for the coming week to bring forth a plethora of phone calls and visitors to watch one of America’s top sophomore guards.
Also at Findlay Prep, assistant coach Todd Simon said he would take over the program should head coach Michael Peck depart for UNLV or another position.
RECRUITING RUNDOWN
New Tennessee head coach Cuonzo Martin made a big move on Saturday as he offered a huge 2013 player. Jabari Parker, a sophomore forward out of Simeon High School in Illinois, picked up an offer from the Volunteers. Parker is also sporting offers from Duke, Washington, Kansas, Illinois, Michigan State and more.
2013 guard Johnnie Vassar of Lawrence Academy in Massachusetts has some visitors lined up to watch him. On Sunday night, Texas A&M assistant Scott Spinelli will watch the 6-0 sophomore. A native of Chicago, Vassar will be greeted on Tuesday by Illinois assistant Jerrance Howard, who will also watch him.
Weekend Visitors: A number of important official visits happened this weekend. No one visit was bigger than DeAndre Daniels to Duke. The former Texas commit and current postgrad at IMG Academies in Florida took an official visit to Duke over the weekend.
6-11 Lekan Ajayi of Quality Education (N.C.) is currently on a visit to Auburn. He was also considering Wake Forest, Tennessee and Oklahoma State.
Casey Carroll, a 2011 forward out of Kiski Prep in Pennsylvania, took an official visit to Northeastern this weekend. He visited Drexel last weekend and will decide between the two in the coming weeks.
Montray Clemons, a 2011 forward out of Mack Academy in North Carolina, verbally committed to DePaul after an official visit this weekend.
Rutgers Fest 2011 had even more importance this weekend as the Scarlet Knights hosted two visitors. 2011 guard Eli Carter of Brewster Academy in New Hampshire took an official visit and could fill a void left by Rutgers guard Tyree Graham injury. Along with Carter, former Kansas State player Wally Judge, a star in high school, took an official visit to the Piscataway campus, as well.
“It was great, had lots of fun,” Carter said by text. “They would want me to play my game and play both guard positions and pressure the ball on defense.”
Speaking of Brewster, head coach Jason Smith has a plethora of schools lined up to watch his next stud. Arizona, UConn, Duke, Florida State, Maryland, Syracuse & Texas are all scheduled to watch 2012 forward Mitch McGary work out next week. The list will continue to grow as McGary put in a good weekend on the AAU circuit.
Arizona’s Sidiki Johnson, Rutgers’ Jerome Seagears, Marquette’s Todd Mayo & Rice’s Jarelle Reischel were all selected to the Mary Kline Classic May 28 at The Pennington School.
COACHING CAROUSEL NOTES
**Glen Miller will move to assistant coach at UConn from Director of Basketball Ops, a source close to the situation told SNY.tv. Miller would replace Andre LaFleur, who is headed to Providence.
**Former UT assistant Steve Forbes has landed on his feet as head coach at Northwest Florida State.
