Morehead State basketball gets commitment from Clarksville Academy 3-star Eddie Ricks III

Clarksville Academy forward Eddie Ricks III announced his commitment to play basketball at Morehead State.

The 6-foot-8, 175-pound senior is a three-star recruit, ranked as the No. 2 small forward in Tennessee and the 37th nationally in the 2023 class, according to the 247Sports Composite.

Ricks had offers from Radford and Southeast Missouri and drew interest from Vanderbilt, Ole Miss, Cincinnati, BYU, Virginia Tech and Western Kentucky.

Ricks took his official visit to Morehead last weekend and was impressed with the Eagles' coaching staff that has guided the Eagles to consecutive Ohio Valley Conference tournament title appearances.

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"Going to Morehead State early in this process was a big decision," Ricks said Tuesday. "I just had to commit right after I left because I felt like no one can top them. I'm a big relationship guy and it felt like home to me."

Morehead State coach, Preston Spradlin, a former graduate assistant for John Calipari at Kentucky, has led Morehead State to a 23-8 record in 2020-21 and 23-11 last season. Morehead State won the OVC Tournament title in 2021 and lost to Murray State in the title game last season.

Spradlin spent two seasons (2009-11) as a graduate assistant at UK before three years as the assistant director of operations (2011-14). He was a part of the Wildcats' 2012 national championship team. 

"Morehead just has a winning culture," said Ricks' father, Eddie Ricks II. "My son enjoyed the past weekend there and he also got to develop a rapport with the two other recruits that committed to the school." 

Eddie Ricks III developed a rapport with two other Morehead State targets last weekend, Jerone Morton, of George Rogers Clark High in Kentucky and 6-10 Charlotte, North Carolina product, Mekhi Grant. Morton committed to Morehead last month.

Ricks III said he's firm on his commitment and has no plans to visit another school.

"That's a level of disrespect," he said. "I don't believe in doing that kind of thing. I feel like if you commit to a school you should honor that." 

Ricks III, a two-time Leaf-Chronicle All Area performer, was a Mr. Basketball finalist for Division II-A after averaging 21 points, 7.5 rebounds, 2.1 assists while shooting 51% from the field. The Cougars advanced to its first DII-A state tournament last season.

Reach sports writer George Robinson at grobinson@gannett.com or (931) 245-0747 and on Twitter @Cville_Sports.