Miami added another member to its 2025 class on Thursday, when four-star center Ben Ahmed announced his commitment to the Hurricanes. The Senegal-born big man chose Miami over finalists Xavier and Cincinnati and will play his upcoming senior season at Connecticut's Putnam Science Academy.
Below, Rivals national analyst Rob Cassidy explores what Miami is getting in Ahmed as well as what landing his pledge means for the big picture.
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WHAT MIAMI IS GETTING
The 6-foot-9, 300-pound Ahmed is a big, broad, mountain of a center that can get up and down the floor with surprising quickness and fluidity as well as bang in the paint with anyone in the class. He may lack truly elite length for a modern center, but his strength, dexterity and sneaky athleticism allow him to function as an absolute bully in the block, where he showcases both over-the-shoulder scoring ability and a knack for dunking much of what he catches around the basket. He uses his massive, broad-shouldered body to carve out space in the paint and is one of the country’s elite rebounders because of that as well as an uncanny knack for reading the ball off the rim. His more-than-7-foot wingspan exceeds his listed height and allows him to function as a capable rim protector.
While Ahmed moves well for his massive size, he could stand to reshape his body a bit as he could take the next step in his development by leaning out and becoming even more explosive, conditioned and nimble than he is currently. He’s limited a bit offensively as his face-up game still needs a lot of work and his scoring ability doesn’t extend out beyond the paint. That said, his back-to-the-basket game is formidable, and he checks a number of boxes that need to be checked when discussing intriguing long-term post prospects. There is plenty of unrealized upside at work inside Ahmed, which is saying something because the big man was incredibly productive all summer.
WHAT IT MEANS FOR MIAMI
Miami is hoping Ahmed’s commitment is the start of a recruiting run that also includes a verbal pledge from five-star forward Cameron Boozer along with four-star point guard Cayden Boozer. Either way, the bedrock of UM’s class, which now includes top-60 prospects Ahmed and Matthew Able, is impressive. Any concern about Hurricane head coach Jim Larrañaga’s age (75) seems to have faded, as UM is proving it still has the resources and relationships to stand toe-to-toe with heavy hitters on the trail.
There’s a lot to like about Miami’s two-member class, both members of which had incredibly productive summers. The haul could go from “impressive” to “exceptional” in the near future if things break the Hurricanes’ way, however.
