With roster turnover expected this offseason for UNLV, T.J. Otzelberger could dip into the 2021 high school class.
Most of the high-end players are committed and signed to schools for next season, so finding an impact player may prove to be difficult.
But the Rebels offered a scholarship to Kidtrell Blocker, a 6-foot-5 guard playing for Tennessee Prep. Blocker is not ranked by Rivals or ESPN, but 247 Sports gives him three stars.
Blocker’s recruiting has picked up recently, as UNLV and Kansas State offered him a scholarship this week.
UNLV noticed the lightly ranked recruit when he played against the Rebels top-50 commit Arthur Kaluma. Blocker had 36 points, but Tennessee Prep lost to Dream City Christian 90-84. Kaluma scored 40, by the way.
“UNLV started recruiting me about a month back,” Blocker told Stock Risers. “I played against one of their commits and had a good showing and they’ve kinda been on me ever since.”
Blocker also gave Stock Risers a timeline for his commitment.
“As far as committing, I’ll probably give it another 4-5 weeks to get a better feel and be decided by the end of March, beginning of April most likely,” Blocker said.
Unless UNLV wins four games in four days in the Mountain West tournament, UNLV’s season will end next week. And the roster turnover will likely start.
Blocker would not come to UNLV with much hype given his recruiting ranking or lack thereof. But he has started to make quite the impression on college coaches recently.
However, it remains to be seen if Blocker could make an immediate impact next season for a program that needs to show significant progress.