High-flying forward officially joins UNLV’s incoming recruiting class

Derrick Jones comes to the Rebels with a full highlight reel of dunks

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Courtesy of Adidas

Derrick Jones goes up for a dunk during the Adidas Nations camp on Aug. 4, 2014, in Long Beach, Calif.

Thu, Apr 16, 2015 (12:45 p.m.)

Small forward Derrick Jones dunked his way into UNLV fans’ hearts months ago. Today, the Philadelphia-area native signed his way there, putting pen to paper on a national letter of intent and officially becoming the Rebels’ second incoming freshman for the 2015-16 season.

“We are excited that Derrick is a Runnin’ Rebel,” UNLV coach Dave Rice said in a statement. “He is an explosive offensive player and will develop into a lockdown defender. He brings a winning attitude and is a fantastic teammate.”

Earlier this month, Jones won a dunk contest in Indianapolis by dunking over four people, which came a few months after leaping over two fellow top recruits in another dunk contest in Fort Myers, Fla.

Jones’ second-most watched highlight on Youtube is an in-game, two-handed and-one finish against a 6-foot-8 defender, so there is at least some evidence of his off-the-charts athleticism translating to more than just exhibitions.

Jones, listed a 6-foot-7 and 190 pounds, is ranked No. 43 in the class of 2015 in 247Sports’ composite rankings. He averaged 18.2 points per game as a senior at Archbishop John Carroll High.

His signature, combined with that of Canadian guard Jalen Poyser, gives UNLV arguably the best incoming class in the Mountain West with plenty of room to improve as the Rebels look to add more pieces to fill their three (or four, depending on sophomore forward Christian Wood) open scholarships.

Two possible names for those vacancies are transfer guards Nigel Williams-Goss and Ike Nwamu, who are both visiting UNLV this weekend. Williams-Goss, a Washington sophomore who originally committed to UNLV out of Findlay Prep, is expected to sit out a year and then have two years of eligibility remaining while Nwamu, who led Mercer in scoring last season, is eligible immediately for his final season.

The Rebels are also awaiting the decisions of a pair of local prep big men. Findlay Prep forward Justin Jackson, a class of 2016 commit who’s recently been playing on Team Canada Elite alongside Poyser, is considering reclassifying to 2015, and Bishop Gorman High’s Stephen Zimmerman could make his decision any day now.

Zimmerman, who has UNLV is his final five alongside Kentucky, Arizona, Kansas and UCLA, is playing Friday in the Jordan Brand Classic at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The game will air at 5 p.m. Las Vegas time on ESPN2.

Taylor Bern can be reached at 948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Taylor on Twitter at twitter.com/taylorbern.

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