Vegas Bound

New England Recruiting Report | Thursday, September 24th, 2015

St. Thomas More and PSA Cardinals guard Christian Vital made a verbal commitment to UNLV on Wednesday, just a few days after returning from his official visit.

Vital earned scholarship offers from the likes of the Rebels, Dayton, SMU and many more after a big summer on the EYBL circuit with the Cardinals.

He visited Dayton officially to start the month before visiting UNLV this weekend.

Vital has spent his entire high school career in the New England prep ranks, beginning at a junior boarding school before debuting at Vermont Academy for his sophomore year. His talent was noticeable from day one and has only continued to grow, and become more consistent in the two years since.

He spent his junior season at St. Thomas More and now returns for a senior season in which he hopes to lead the Chancellors to a run in class AAA.

On the AAU circuit, he's played with PSA Cardinals (previously Team Scan) since day one, going from somewhat of a role player early in his career to one of the most important players in a run to the Peach Jam quarterfinals this summer.

One of the most naturally competitive players in New England, Vital is known for the chip on his shoulder, but has learned to harness his emotions in recent years and become a much more dangerous player as a result.

Also capable of making threes in bunches, Vital joins a UNLV program that has recruited at a high level in recent years with the likes of Stephen Zimmerman, Derrick Jones, Jalen Poyser and New England native Goodluck Okonoboh among others.

Vital joins E.J. Crawford, who pledged to Iona on Monday, to become the second STM product to commit to a division I school this week.