Florida State Basketball announces signings of two transfers; C Naheem McLeod enters portal
The Florida State men’s basketball saw some more significant comings and goings on Wednesday.
First, the Seminoles officially announced the signings of two transfers. Then, center Naheem McLeod entered the transfer portal.
Here is more from On3 on McLeod’s departure.
And here is more from FSU on the new signings.
This is a release from Florida State’s sports information department:
Josh Nickelberry and Jamir Watkins have been added to the Florida State men’s basketball roster by head coach Leonard Hamilton. Both Nickelberry (La Salle University) and Watkins (Virginia Commonwealth) will join the Seminoles for the upcoming 2023-24 season as transfers and both as proven scorers, shooters and leaders who are expected to play important roles at Florida State.
Nickelberry (6-4, 205) was named the Sixth Man of the Year in the Atlantic 10 as he averaged 10.9 and 2.7 rebounds while shooting .401 from the 3-point line during the 2022-23 season. He made a team-leading 79 3-point shots and shot a team-leading .803 from the free throw line in earning Philadelphia Big 5 honors.
The fourth-year guard finished tied for fourth in the Atlantic 10 in 3-point field goals made (79), sixth in the conference in 3-pointers made per game (2.3), and seventh in the conference in 3-point field goal percentage (.401).
Nickelberry (Fayetteville, N.C.) will play his fifth collegiate season in 2022-23 after playing two seasons at Louisville (2020 and 2021) and two at La Salle (2022 and 2023). He enters his final collegiate season having played in 87 career games with 40 starts. He averaged in double-figure scoring in both of his two seasons at La Salle.
Nickelberry will play as a graduate transfer at Florida State as he is set to earn his bachelor’s degree in communications from La Salle in May.
“Josh is a very fundamentally sound player who has proven himself to be an outstanding shooter during his collegiate career,” said Hamilton. “He is experienced, has played in a ton of high intensity games during his career, and is a great addition to our roster. The experience Josh has gained, and the style of basketball he has played throughout his career makes us a better team immediately.”
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Watkins (6-7, 201) helped lead VCU to the NCAA Tournament in 2023 and to the NIT in 2022. He scored eight points and earned four rebounds in the Rams’ victory over ACC regular-season Co-Champion Pitt (November 17, 2022), scored 13 points in a win over Vanderbilt (November 30, 2022) and totaled a double-double of 14 points and 10 rebounds at Memphis (November 20, 2022).
Watkins (Trenton, N.J.) was VCU’s fourth-leading scorer with his 9.5 points per game scoring average this past season. He made 36 3-point shots as a sophomore and made 58 long range shots in his two seasons at VCU.
“Jamir will play in his fourth season as a collegiate student-athlete beginning this fall,” said Hamilton. “He was highly recruited out of high school and played in 61 games while he was a VCU. Jamir is going to help us because he is an athletic wing, can shoot the basketball and wants to play defense. He averages more than one steal a game for his career and blocked 23 shots this past season.”
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