Penn State Basketball in Contact With Former 2025 Miami Commit

Former Miami commit — and class of 2025 four-star recruit — Ben Ahmed has been in contact with Penn State after reopening his recruitment, Sam Kayser of 24/7 High School Hoops reported Friday.

2025 4⭐️ Ben Ahmed (@bigbe_nn), a former Miami commit, announced yesterday his plans to reopen his recruitment. He told @LeagueRDY he’s been in touch with these schools since:

Ole Miss
Butler
Oklahoma State
Penn State
Boston College

Ahmed is a 6-10 lefty big man who is a force… pic.twitter.com/bAKFsuAiwp

— Sam Kayser – 24/7 High School Hoops (@247HSHoops) February 7, 2025

The 6-foot-10 center from Putnam Science Academy in Putnam, Connecticut, requested a release from the University of Miami after committing to the program in October and signing in November. He had chosen Miami over schools like Xavier, Boston College, Cincinnati, and Georgia, among others.

Ahmed is the No. 104 recruit and the No. 16 center according to 247Sports. His decision comes after Jim Larrañaga stepped down in December, although it has not been made known if that played a role in Ahmed’s decision.

Larrañaga had decided to step away from the Hurricanes because of the growing influence of name, image and likeness in college sports — joining prominent head coaches such as Virginia’s Tony Bennet and Villanova’s Jay Wright who cited similar reasoning.

PENN STATE BASKETBALL RECRUITING

Penn State head coach Mike Rhoades is aware of NIL’s prominence in the college space, but he is willing to do whatever it takes to build a winning program in State College.

“I told [president Neeli Bendapudi before I took the job that] I’m going to be a pit bull with manners,” Rhoades said in October. “I’m going to be unapologetic for trying to build a winning program that is going to be like Michigan State someday or Purdue someday …”

One month later, Rhoades revisited the topic of NIL and said, “1A on my list is recruiting guys that fit Penn State basketball. 1B is being able to provide support for them at a high level so that they want to be here.”

Delivering on his commitment to building a sustainable culture and a place where players want to be, Rhoades signed the best-rated recruiting class in Penn State history in November. Headlining the list of signees was four-star Kayden Mingo from Long Island Lutheran. Mingo was joined by fellow four-star Mason Blackwood and three-star Justin Houser.

Penn State (13-10, 3-9) is set to take on UCLA on Saturday (4 p.m. EST, BTN) and then USC on Tuesday (9 p.m. EST, BTN) as part of a five-day West Coast trip.