Next Cats player page: Kentucky signee Daimion Collins
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Next Cats player pages
Bio information, video highlights and the latest rankings for all of Kentucky’s basketball commitments and recruiting targets for the class of 2021 and beyond. These pages include John Calipari’s quotes on the UK signees for next season, as well as the newest Crystal Ball predictions for the Wildcats’ top uncommitted targets.
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Arguably the most athletic post player in all of high school basketball, Daimion Collins committed to the Wildcats in October, officially signed with Kentucky in November, and will bring lofty expectations to Lexington for the 2021-22 season.
At the time of his commitment, Collins was barely ranked inside the national top 20 for the 2021 class, but his recruiting stock is expected to rise dramatically as those rankings continue to be updated. He’s an elite rim-protector and rebounder — a 7-foot-3 wingspan certainly helps in both of those departments — and his offensive game is rapidly improving. That length — combined with his otherworldly athleticism — makes Collins one of the most intriguing prospects in the 2021 class, regardless of position.
DAIMION COLLINS
- Power forward | Atlanta, Texas
- 6-foot-9, 200 pounds
- 247Sports: No. 10 overall
- Rivals.com: No. 15 overall
- ESPN.com: No. 17 overall
For the longest time, Oklahoma and Texas were seen as the major players in Collins’ recruitment. The east Texas native actually lives closer to Norman than Austin, played for a travel team bearing the name of former Sooners star Blake Griffin, and has friends inside the Oklahoma program. The home-state Longhorns also did a tremendous job recruiting Collins early on, with former Texas assistant coach Jai Lucas taking the lead in his recruitment. Lucas, of course, is now an assistant coach at Kentucky, and fellow UK assistant Joel Justus started to pursue Collins on behalf of the Wildcats even before Lucas made the move to Lexington.
247Sports analyst Brandon Jenkins told the Herald-Leader around the time of Collins’ commitment that the star forward almost certainly would have committed to Texas over the summer if Lucas had stayed put in Austin.
“I think Daimion saw (Lucas) as family and felt comfortable making that jump with him there,” Jenkins said. “And then on top of that, it was just a perfect fit. So it all worked out for Daimion long term.”
Collins is the type of athletic big man that John Calipari has had much success with in the past. Anthony Davis and Nerlens Noel emerged as premier shot-blockers at Kentucky, and — though those are high points of comparison — analysts aren’t shying away from Collins’ potential to reach such status in college.
“I think what all three of those players have in common is — even if they’re not alert at the right time — they still have the ability and the length to get there in time and make a play,” Jenkins said. “So I think he’ll have that same impact as far as being ready on helpside, blocking shots and keeping it in play. He’s that type of player. ... I think the reason why he fits perfectly at Kentucky is because Kentucky has had players like him before, and they’ll know exactly what to do with him.”
Collins averaged 24.6 points, 13.7 rebounds and 7.7 blocks per game as a junior last high school season.
Quotable
“He’s a long, athletic, mobile hybrid ‘4’. He once would have been considered like a straight center, but he’s evolved his game over the summer — as far as his jump-shooting and ball-handling — to make himself a legitimate ‘4’ man. Now, he might play the ‘5’ at Kentucky, just due to his ability to run rim to rim and protect the basket at an elite level. But he projects as a hybrid ‘4’ man at the highest of levels. He’s painfully skinny, but, at the same time, he gets a lot done with his length and athleticism. He’s extremely talented, and he’s just starting to scratch the surface of what he can become.” — 247Sports analyst Brandon Jenkins
What Calipari says
“I’m really excited for Daimion and his family to join our program. Daimion is an incredible young man with a bright future — someone who has only begun to realize just how good he can be. Our fans know I don’t like to make comparisons to our other guys, but Daimion has that type of length, the athleticism and the versatility that have separated our players from others. He wanted to be pushed and to be in a competitive environment to help him reach his full potential. The staff and I cannot wait to help him grow.”
This story was originally published November 13, 2020 at 2:51 PM.
