Both Dave Telep and Bryan Hanks have confirmed that IU has offered a scholarship to 2010 guard/forward Reggie Bullock.

Bullock is out of Kinston high school in North Carolina where last season he helped lead the Kinston Vikings to an appearance in the Class 3-A state championship game.

Kinston fell short of a state championship as Bullock scored 10 points in 18 minutes in a reserve role. You can view the boxscore from that game by clicking here.

Kinston coach Wells Gulledge told Hanks that the Hoosiers followed Bullock closely over the summer and liked what they saw enough to extend an offer on Tuesday.

Bullock is a 6′5″, 175 pounder who is also being recruited by North Carolina, North Carolina State, Texas, Virginia and Wake Forest.

As someone who follows recruiting very closely, the rise of Washington (IN) big man Tyler Zeller to a five-star prospect caught me a bit off guard.

Earlier this year, most recruiting services viewed Zeller as a three-star or a four-star prospect. Many would have argued for East Chicago Central’s Angel Garcia or Warren Central’s Walter Offutt as the top 2008 prospect from the state of Indiana.

However, after an off-season of improvement and strong AAU play in the spring, Zeller shot up the charts and became a high priority for several schools. Scout.com put him in their top 20 and Rivals.com put him in their top 25. His play has also made him a firm favorite for the title of Mr. Basketball.

So what was behind Zeller’s rise as a prospect? His confidence finally caught up to his potential.

“The biggest factor was, and Tyler and I’ve had conversations about this, he simply wasn’t ready,” Scout.com National Recruiting Director Dave Telep said. “When there’s a player like Tyler Zeller with a family history of size and being a high major player, you make sure you pay that guy a little extra attention. It wasn’t Tyler’s time until this year and once he seemed comfortable and confident, things just exploded for him.”

“It has happened like that for other guys in the past,” Telep added. “Andrew Bynum (now of the Los Angeles Lakers) was the same way. You always kind of knew that he was going to be a prospect. When his confidence level started equaling his potential, he really started getting good in a hurry. I think the same thing happened with Tyler.”

As you know, Inside the Hall recently caught up with Scout.com National Recruiting Director Dave Telep to talk IU recruiting. We asked Dave for the lowdown on the 2008 recruiting class and here’s what he had to say.

On Devin Ebanks:
“Ebanks is special. He’s 6′7″ or 6′8″, can handle the basketball, he plays on the perimeter and he’s just a really, really big wing player. He has a chance to be a special player that can make money at this game.”

On Bud Mackey:
“He’s really an intriguing prospect. He hasn’t defined himself as a point guard or a shooting guard just yet. He’s a talented kid. He’s got one of those live, wiry bodies. He’s got a big ceiling to get better and he’s pretty good. As good of a player as he is, he’s probably the same level prospect.

On Matt Roth:
“I’ve always thought that college basketball tries to imitate and copy each other when people have success. I think everybody looked at Lee Humphrey for Florida the last two years and if you were a good team who figured that you could make a run in the NCAA Tournament, at that point you looked at Lee Humphrey and said ‘we’ve got to get a guy like that’. Matt Roth was brought in to make three-point shots for the Indiana Hoosiers. Preferrably for them in the NCAA Tournament. I think that’s what his role will be.”

(Editor’s Note: Tom Pritchard is not included because we talked to Dave before he committed to IU.)

One of the remaining names at the top of the priority list for the 2008 recruiting class is Mount Vernon (NY) forward Kevin Jones. Jones is a 6′8″, 215-pounder who can hit the outside shot and go inside as well.

The past two seasons, Jones has led his Mount Vernon high school team to back-to-back state titles. Oh and by the way, he’s in the National Honor Society.

Jones still has a fairly long list of schools to sift through, but IU seems to be right in the mix for his services. In fact, Adam Zagoria of the Herald News in New Jersey reported earlier today that IU coach Kelvin Sampson visited Jones on Sunday night:

Indiana head coach Kelvin Sampson was in on Sunday night, trying to sell Kevin on pairing up with Devin Ebanks in the Indiana frontcourt.

Since I haven’t seen Jones play, I asked Dave Telep of Scout.com for a scouting report on the Mount Vernon forward.

“I think Kevin Jones at the end of the day, is a workhorse type kid who has a desire to win and get better. He holds himself to very high standards. He’s one of those kids that you can toss aside where he’s rated or what different people think of him. I think he could play for anybody in the country because of his approach and his talent level. I think everybody’s looking for a Kevin Jones. There isn’t a style or a temperament, he just fits in. He’s a good basketball player.” Telep said.

Pretty high praise from the guy I consider to be the expert when it comes to basketball recruiting on the national level. Jones certainly has the blue collar work ethic that Kelvin Sampson values in his players. I’ll be keeping a close eye on his recruitment as we head towards November.

I caught a bit of flack for not including Eric Gordon on my preseason All-Big Ten team and quite frankly, I expected it. That’s what is so great about us, the IU fanbase: we’re passionate about our love for the program and the players.

I wasn’t saying that Gordon won’t make the All-Big Ten team because it’s certainly a possibility that he will. I just didn’t agree with handing out preseason accolades to a player that hasn’t played a single minute of college basketball.

So that got me thinking, what are realistic expectations for EJ?

I’ve talked to people who think he can come in and average 18-20 points per game right off the bat. I’ve talked to others who think he could struggle early on adjusting to tougher defenses.

The most optimistic of opinions I’ve heard on Gordon’s impact include comparisons to the impact Kevin Durant had at Texas last season.

I bounced this question off of Dave Telep of Scout.com the other night when we chatted and asked him if a Durant like impact was possible for the IU freshman.

“First of all, Kevin Durant and Carmelo Anthony are pretty much the two guys that had the biggest impact on their respective teams in the last ten years,” Telep said. “That’s asking a lot of a guy. I think Eric Gordon is a good enough and talented enough player that he’s going to find his way on to one of those All-Big Ten teams. If he can do that as a freshman, he had a major impact on the conference.”

My personal opinion is that Gordon is a special talent that doesn’t come along very often. He’s a unique blend of finesse and power. I’ve followed high school basketball in Indiana for quite some time and I don’t remember any player comparable to him. That said, it’d be unrealistic to expect no bumps in the road and a flawless freshman campaign for Gordon.

I’m interested in hearing what you are expecting out of Gordon and the impact you think he’ll have. Drop a comment and give me your take.

St. Patrick’s High in New Jersey, under the leadership of coach Kevin Boyle, has produced quite a bit of talent over the years. Current NBA stars Al Harrington and Samuel Dalembert both immediately come to mind. This past season the school sent Corey Fisher, a consensus top 25 player, to Villanova.

However, the best talent yet to come from the school may be in the form of 2009 standout and IU target, Dexter Strickland. And even better for Hoosier fans, he’ll get a chance to check out Bloomington when he attends Midnight Madness on October 12th.

Strickland has the eye of just about every high major program and currently holds offers from Michigan State, North Carolina, Ohio State, Rutgers, Villanova, Arizona, Florida and IU.

So what is it about Strickland’s game that makes him so highly sought after? We went to the expert, Dave Telep of Scout.com, to get the lowdown on Strickland.

“He’s one of the best guards in the class of 2009. He is extremely smooth and has improved year to year. This is one of the elite players in his class,” Telep said. “He’s at a high school that’s going to showcase his talents all year long and he’s going to be front and center on the national scene.”

Telep also noted that several schools were on hand to watch Strickland work out yesterday as it was the first day of the fall open evaluation period. One of the coaches reportedly on hand was Indiana assistant Rob Senderoff.

Strickland’s recruitment will certainly be one to watch over the next year as the Hoosiers try to lock up yet another five-star recruit.

I just got finished talking with Dave Telep, the National Recruiting Director for Scout.com, about a variety of IU recruiting topics. I encourage you to check out Dave’s work at Scouthoops.com.

Over the next few weeks I’ll have quite a bit of information and quotes from my talk with Mr. Telep, but for now, here’s what he had to say about Derek Elston’s commitment to IU:

“We don’t have a tremendously long book on Derek Elston, but in the limited viewings that I saw of him I liked that he was a guy that was willing to stick his nose in there, fight for rebounds, had enough skill where he could play facing the basket and just really had the look and feel of a solid Big Ten prospect. He made our Top 75 and we’re talking about a guy who had great rebounding numbers, solid scoring numbers and you expect both to go up in his junior year. He clearly was a priority recruit for a lot of Big Ten programs. I think its a very good commitment and I’m going to continue watching him, he’s got half of his high school career left.”