PROVO \u2014 The top public school talent in Utah basketball’s class of 2026 has made his decision.<\/p>\n
And Dean Rueckert won’t be moving far for his college career.<\/p>\n
The 6-foot-8 wing from Timpview High committed to BYU basketball Monday evening in an announcement on the CBS Sports’ college basketball YouTube channel<\/a>.<\/p>\n Rueckert, a four-star prospect rated the No. 68 overall recruit in the country by 247Sports, chose the Cougars over Clemson, Stanford, Utah and Washington.<\/p>\n He previously took an official visit to the Huskies; but one week after an official visit to the Provo campus, Rueckert committed to second-year head coach Kevin Young \u2014 who is already building up quite the resume in short order with his collegiate career.<\/p>\n “BYU is a special place that can help me go far, not only in basketball but also in life,” Rueckert told 247Sports about his commitment. “Kevin Young and the rest of the coaching staff have done a really good job of making me feel wanted and valued. I’m super excited to get there and do my thing.”<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The Deseret News 5A player of the year and two-time all-state selection<\/a> was a double-digit scorer in his first three years of high school, including averaging 18.6 points, 4.9 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.1 blocks per game as a junior for the Thunderbirds.<\/p>\n He also starred over the summer for Utah Prospects on the EYBL circuit, where he shot 36% from deep on close to seven attempts per game and 47% on catch-and-shoot threes recently at Peach Jam in Augusta, Georgia.<\/p>\n Rueckert, who has worked with former BYU guard Skyler Halford since second grade<\/a>, is the first commitment of the 2026 recruiting class for Young, who compiled the No. 13 class in the country by the 247Sports composite ranking last year including the No. 3 high school class.<\/p>\n That group was famously led by AJ Dybantsa<\/a>, the No. 1 overall recruit by 247Sports who many project to be the No. 1 pick in next summer’s NBA draft.<\/p>\n Young also brought in four-star center Xavion Staton, the 6-foot-11 rim-runner from Las Vegas who finished his high school career at Utah Prep, and four-star forward Chamberlain Burgess, the 6-foot-9 Orem High product who will serve a church mission before enrolling at BYU.<\/p>\n “I feel like I know the coaching staff well,” Rueckert told Krysten Peek at Peach Jam<\/a>. “They’re one of the best development programs in the country right now, and it’s a great opportunity.<\/p>\n “The new coaching staff has a lot of NBA experience; that’s where I want to go: to the NBA.”<\/p>\n With Rueckert’s commitment in place, the Cougars will look to prioritize several other top-50 prospects. The list includes Utah Prep’s 4-star wing Anthony Felesi<\/a>, rated the No. 2 overall prospect in Utah by 247Sports and No. 46 nationally by 247Sports whose suitors include Louisville, UCLA and Gonzaga, and four-star combo guard Austin Goosby<\/a>, the No. 30-rated prospect out of Melissa, Texas, with offers from Texas, Duke and Baylor, among others.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \n The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PROVO \u2014 The top public school talent in Utah basketball’s class of 2026 has made his decision. 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