Nickel, Other Prospects Hear From JMU During 'Insane' Recruiting Day

Teenagers staying up all night to answer calls and texts from middle-aged men they may never have even met might, under normal circumstances, at the very least raise some eyebrows.

But in the strange, sometimes nonsensical world of college basketball and recruiting, that’s just what happens on June 15, when at 12:01 a.m. college coaches are first allowed to directly contact rising high school junior prospects.

The new coaching staff at James Madison has been busy reaching out to multiple class of 2022 recruits, offering scholarships to a few — including East Rockingham’s Tyler Nickel.

“It was insane,” Nickel, a 6-foot-8 small forward, said. “I have never had anything like that ever. It just starts at midnight and you get calls and texts from some people who have been showing you love and some you have never heard of before. They just continue for the entire day. Calls from random numbers you have never seen and you have to pick them up because you know it’s a coach somewhere.”

Nickel, who was rated a top-100 prospect nationally by Rivals.com and played on the national champion Team Loaded AAU squad last summer, had a good idea of what was coming. Others were in for a surprise.

Shane Lancaster, a 6-4 guard from St. John’s College High School in Washington, D.C., didn’t even have a profile on any of the major recruiting websites when the week began. But starting just after midnight on the 15th, he heard from 17 Division I programs in less than 24 hours, including JMU.

“I had only heard from Columbia before [Monday],” Lancaster said. “I didn’t expect to receive as many calls as I did. [JMU assistant] Xavier Joyner called me [Monday] morning and we had a good conversation. He is from my local area so we knew each other beforehand and he also said he will come and see me play again at my school.”

In many cases, college coaches had already made their intention to recruit the rising juniors known through AAU and/or high school coaches. At JMU, Mark Byington’s staff had to scramble to reassemble next season’s roster after six players transferred.

The Dukes were then busy catching up on class of 2021 recruits and only more recently began to give more focus on the 2022 class, even with a local phenom such as Nickel.

Nickel, who had previously received an offer from former JMU coach Louis Rowe, had his first conversation with Byington on Monday when the Dukes re-offered.

JMU offered scholarships to two other in-state products in the 2022 class. Paul Lewis, the younger brother of Dukes’ senior standout Matt Lewis, picked up offers from both JMU and Maryland after a breakout season at Bishop O’Connell High School in Arlington. Alphonzo Billups, a 6-6 guard from the Richmond area, picked up offers from JMU in addition to Old Dominion, Murray State, Texas A&M, Richmond and Ole Miss.

As of Tuesday at noon, Nickel had talked with 17 programs in 36 hours — during which time he only slept for about two hours — and picked up new offers from Clemson and Appalachian State to go along with previous scholarship offers from Virginia Tech, VCU and Penn State.

“It’s a really cool feeling,” Nickel said, “but it’s kind of wild for the whole thing because you are on edge all day.”