Nix Picks Spartans * FREE STORY

Nix Is A Spartan

Derrick Nix gave a verbal commitment to Michigan State coach Tom Izzo on Monday, giving the Spartans their second member in the Class of 2009.

Nix gives Izzo his second-ever Detroit PSL player citing that he “always wanted to go there,” as the primary reason he chose the Spartans.

At 6-foot-9, 285-pounds, Nix remained under the national radar until two weeks ago as he had only offers from Central Michigan and Detroit Mercy.

But after his performance in Pitt, Nix was on the most-wanted list of several schools looking for a center. Aside from MSU the list included Ohio State, Tennessee, Pitt, Iowa and Marquette.

“It (has been) a good experience,” Nix said. “We lost, but my teammates did a good job of getting me the ball and I was able to rebound for them and it was a good experience playing against other known players, other ranked players.”

Nix is now ranked PrepSpotlight.com’s No. 2 player among Michigan’s rising seniors and he’s the No. 10 center nationally.

He’ll have a chance to develop further this spring as The Family will travel to the King James Invitational this weekend and the Bill Hensley Memorial the following weekend. And while the tournaments have been competitive, Nix says the practices against teammates such as DaShonte Riley, Donnavan Kirk and James Still have been hardnosed, which only makes him better.

“It’s very competitive,” Nix said. “Going against some of the best players in the country it does nothing but make you better. So it’s fun going against them. Some days you get the better of them, some days you don’t.

Nix said he wasn’t really aware that so many schools were interested in him. In fact, last weekend at the Pitt Jam fest, Pitt Panther big man DeJuan Blair came over and tried to recruit Nix.

“I didn’t know who he was at first,” Nix said.

Regardless, Nix is where he wants to be. Kudos to the MSU coaching staff of Dwayne Stephens, Mark Montgomery and Mike Garland for a strong collective effort.

MSU now has two commitments – Nix and Ohio big man Garrick Sherman, and they’ll add one or possibly two more prospects in the Class of 2009.

To read more on Nix from Vince Baldwin, click here.