The highest-rated recruit to ever commit to South Dakota State men’s basketball is reuniting with the Jackrabbits’ former coach at UNLV.
Caleb Grill is the 3-star Kansas native who decommitted to SDSU after Otzelberger left to take the $1.1 million per year job in Las Vegas in the spring of 2019. Although Otzelberger lobbied to have Grill join him, the 6-foot-3 shooting guard went to Iowa State, where Otzelberger was an assistant before taking over at SDSU in 2016.
After one season in Ames (averages of 2.1 points in 13.8 minutes in 29 games), Grill entered the transfer portal, and on Sunday announced he would be a Runnin’ Rebel instead of a Wichita State Shocker or Creighton Bluejay.
Grill’s decommitment opened up a spot on SDSU’s roster for Tea (SD) star Noah Friedel to flip his commitment from Wright State (with former SDSU coach Scott Nagy) to the Jacks. Friedel was the Summit League’s Freshman of the Year while powering SDSU to a 22-10 season and tie for the league title (13-3).
According to the Las Vegas Sun, Grill should bring outside shooting to the Rebels’ roster.
UNLV was 17-15 in Otzelberger’s first season, finishing in a tie for second place in the Mountain West with a 12-6 conference record before the season was cut off by the coronavirus crisis. That record and placement were higher than any of predecessor Marvin Menzies’ three UNLV teams.
