Friday was a big steppingstone day for the future of the University of Miami basketball program. While Jim Larranaga and staff were able to land a commitment from forward Danilo Jovanovich out of Wisconsin early in the day, they were also able to land another commitment from another 2022 forward out of the Midwest just hours later. AJ Casey, a 6’8” forward of Whitney Young High School (IL) and Meanstreets also made his verbal pledge to the Hurricanes. 

The commitment comes shortly after Casey took his official visit to Miami at the end of September. He had also just taken his official visit to DePaul two weeks ago. While Casey has held offers for the past few years, Miami came in very late in his recruitment. They had only offered him his scholarship just last month. 

The consensus top one hundred national recruit picked Miami over his other finalist of DePaul, Gonzaga, Memphis, Michigan, and Ohio State. Other programs to have previously offered him in addition to his six finalists include Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Marquette, as well to several others. 

Casey is an extremely high ceiling forward with his great athleticism, length, and versatile skill set all at 6’8”. Miami is building a very strong 2022 recruitment class to compete in the ACC. In addition to Casey and Jovanovich they also hold a commitment from Christian Watson, a forward from Washington D.C. While Miami is coming off a disappointing 10-17 season, this recruiting class will be a large piece to improve upon that in a year from now.