Belleville West junior EJ Liddell picks up 11th college offer

He entered his junior season already a four-star basketball recruit, but Belleville West’s EJ Liddell continues to raise his stock.

The Maroons’ power forward collected his 11th Division I scholarship offer Tuesday when he heard from the University of Florida. The offer came on his 17th birthday.

He’s already received formal offers from Kansas State, Iowa, Iowa State, Saint Louis, DePaul, SIU Carbondale and Illinois State.

Dueling offers from Illinois and Missouri have brought out fans of both schools in advance of their annual Braggin’ Rights game on Saturday. Twitter posts about Liddell have been littered with alternating comments — “I-L-L” ... “M-I-Z” ... — referencing common fan section chants.

The 6-foot-7 Liddell already has taken unofficial visits to Illinois, Missouri and Iowa. He can begin taking official NCAA-paid visits in January.

The 8-1 Maroons are off to a fast start behind Liddell, who is averaging 22.9 points and 8.4 rebounds. He also has 57 blocked shots, which is 22 more than any other player in the St. Louis region.

Liddell averaged 19.6 points and 7.4 rebounds as a sophomore.

With the majority of this year and his entire senior season yet ahead of him, Liddell told the Belleville-News Democrat in August he’s in no rush to make a college commitment.

“They all seem pretty good at this point,” Liddell said. “I’m just enjoying the process so far. It’s been fun. All the coaches tell me how much they see I can improve — my potential level. They’ve seen my improvement over the years.”

This story was originally published December 20, 2017 at 11:41 AM with the headline "Belleville West junior EJ Liddell picks up 11th college offer."