INSIDE SCOOP: The story of Rob Dockery's journey to La Salle—and why he is staying with the Explorers
Texas A&M transfer took advantage of second chance in Philly
La Salle’s Rob Dockery averaged 15.4 points and 7.1 rebounds in Atlantic 10 play last season. (Photo: La Salle Athletics)
By AARON BRACY
May 13, 2026
Bracy Sports Media Newsletter
PHILADELPHIA – After a standout prep career at Jackson-Reed High School in Washington, D.C., Rob Dockery was flooded with Division I offers. He brushed away eighteen other college basketball suitors and quickly decided that playing for Buzz Williams and Texas A&M was the right fit.
It was his only official visit, and it did not take long after arriving in College Station, Texas for Dockery to feel strongly that he made a good decision. He enjoyed the wide-open spaces afforded at Texas A&M, which was in stark contrast to the environment in which he grew up.
“It definitely is a different pacing of living out there, which showed me there’s more than just DC,” Dockery told me recently. “It’s a lot of people. I never seen that many people in my life. Football games are crazy. It just had me living in a different, I don’t know, I didn’t have to look over my shoulders. I can definitely say it changed me.”
On the court, things were going well, too.
Dockery entered A&M with the understanding that he would redshirt in what would have been his first college season in 2023–24. The 6-foot-6, 205-pound forward was training to be a contributor as a redshirt freshman the following season. He played in both exhibition contests and got seven minutes in the regular-season opener in 2024–25 before problems started. Prior to the second game, Dockery said, he was late to a team event. Though he said it was tardiness by just one minute, Dockery quickly landed in Williams’ doghouse. Dockery also was informed by the coach that he was not “giving daps in practice.”
After a couple of games where he did not play at all, Dockery met with Williams. The result was that the talented prospect left A&M for good, heading back home to DC before the fall semester even ended.
Enter La Salle and Darris Nichols.
Nichols, unbeknownst to Dockery, had recruited the talented forward while still coaching at Radford. With just one player returning after being hired to replace Fran Dunphy following the 2024–25, Nichols got busy in the transfer portal and quickly reached out to Dockery. La Salle, it turned out, was just the second chance Dockery needed.
But it took some time.
With so much newness, from the players to the coaches, there was a lot of figuring things out for everybody in the beginning of last season. Dockery displayed some flashes of promise early on, but his 6.8 points and 4.5 rebounds in 13 nonconference games were average at best. But the potential that made Dockery such a coveted recruit out of high school showed in Atlantic 10 play—and especially down the stretch.
In 18 league games, he scored 15.4 points per contest and grabbed 7.1 boards per game. He scored exactly 25 points in three of final four regular-season contests, including a stellar 25-point, seven-rebound outing at Saint Joseph’s in the finale. He was even better in the conference tournament when he burst out for 33 points and 10 rebounds in an opening-round loss to St. Bonaventure. By season’s end, he had established himself as one of the better players in the A-10.
Nichols said Dockery both got more comfortable on the court and improved his preparation off the court as the season progressed. After a long, winding journey that featured setback and disappointment, Dockery said he felt as if he was playing free on the court during the eye-opening finish to the season at La Salle.
Dockery’s breakout first-year performance was a bit of a Catch-22 for the Explorers. It was a credit Dockery, himself, and to the recruiting and development of Nichols and his staff. Potentially, Nichols and the Explorers now had a strong player around which to build in Year 2. However, the success also meant that Dockery would have suitors, likely from Power-5 conferences, interested once again through the transfer portal.
So, it was no surprise when reports surfaced that Dockery would enter his name in the transfer portal, though Nichols said he never officially put his name there. It seemed as if he would be yet another player to excel at a Big 5 school, only to leave for Power-5 programs. We also have seen this recently at Drexel, Penn, Saint Joseph’s, and Temple. Even Villanova has had players transfer to other Power-5 programs.
“I thought he was gone, too,” Nichols told me.
Surprisingly, Dockery decided not to leave. He will be back for the Explorers in 2025–26 in the second year under Nichols and his second year of eligibility.
So, why did Dockery stay at La Salle and likely leave money on the table?
It came down to comfort and an understanding that La Salle would be the best place for him to continue to develop his game. Nichols helped to convince him of that by explaining what Dockery might experience by returning to a Power-5 conference school.
The coach put Dockery through a simulated half of a game. Each time Dockery made a mistake, Nichols pulled him out of the game. The message was this: Your leash is going to be shorter at a higher level.
“Rob, this is what it’s going to be like,” Nichols told him. “You just left that.”
That said, Nichols has high expectations for Dockery and does not plan to let him be lackadaisical on the court next season. However, there likely will be a longer rope and more opportunity to play through mistakes than if he were competing in, say, the Big East.
If Dockery can be the player that he was last season down the stretch with consistency, there likely will be more—and bigger—opportunities ahead. He still will have two more years of college eligibility after next season.
That is for a later date. For now, Dockery is focused on getting even better.
After leading A-10 in both free throws made (91) and attempted (119) during league play, he said he wants to continue practicing getting downhill and finishing at the rim. He also wants to expand his playmaking ability and long-range shooting.
“Just getting a lot of reps, shooting threes, ballhandling, for sure,” he said.
He will shuffle between La Salle and home, where he’ll get in runs in the talent-rich DMV. He does have individual goals for next season, but his main focus is on winning. The Explorers, hurt by an unusually large number of injuries, were 9-23 last season. On paper, they look to be a team that should improve in the win column next season.
“I think if I just win and do all the other stuff, it will fall in place,” Dockery said of his goals. “It’s really just win, for real. All the goals I have will come if we win. We coming, hopefully, to change this around.”
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Aaron Bracy has covered sports in Philadelphia for nearly three decades for various publications and as a freelancer for the Associated Press. His first book, A Soaring Season: The Incredible, Inspiring Story of the 2003–04 Saint Joseph’s Hawks (Brookline), can be ordered HERE. His second book, Are You Kidding Me? The Incredible, Inspiring Story of Allen Iverson and the 2001 Philadelphia 76ers (Brookline) is scheduled to be published in February 2027. You can preorder it HERE. Follow Bracy on social media HERE. Contact him at bracymedia@gmail.com.