Canes football remains on a recruiting surge. And basketball team adds a center
Success on the field often begets success in recruiting. We have seen that play out time and time again with the Miami Hurricanes during the past five months.
UM’s return to dominance on the field — punctuated by an appearance in the national title game — has helped push the Canes to another level in recruiting, from very good to extraordinary.
The Canes haven’t had the No. 1 recruiting class in the nation since 2008, but On.3com/Rivals vice president Steve Wilfong declared this week that “Miami has pound-for-pound, the No. 1-ranked recruiting class in the country when using the Rivals Industry Average Ranking per commit tool.”
(Officially, both On3.com and 247 Sports rate Miami third behind Texas A&M and Notre Dame.)
UM is now at an even 20 nonbinding commitments after landing California-based receiver Eli Woodard on Tuesday.
That means the Canes now have pledges from (using on3, 247 rankings):
▪ Two of the top 25 wide receivers in the 2027 class: Miami Carol City’s Nick Lennear (No. 4) and Woodard (23)..
▪ The No. 3 quarterback (Illinois-based Israel Abrams).
▪ The No. 13 tight end (Fort Lauderdale Cardinal Gibbons’ Demarcus DeRoche).
▪ Two of the top 12 interior linemen: Alabama-based Jatori Williams (9) and Fort Myers’ John Carroll’s Sean Tatum (12).
▪ The No. 14 running back (Mississippi-based Ty Keys).
▪ The No. 20 defensive lineman (Houston-based Ezekiel Ayangbile).
▪ Two of the top 12 cornerbacks — California-based Donte Wright (No. 2) and Houston-based Ai’King Hall (No. 12).
▪ Two of the top 43 edge players — South Carolina-based Jaiden Bryant (5) and Lake Worth Santaluces’ Jayvon Dawson (43).
▪ Two of the top 30 safeties — North Miami Beach’s Andre Hyppolite (14) and Davie McArthur’s Jaylyn Jones (No. 26).
▪ Two of the top 20 linebackers -- North Carolina based AJ Randle (5) and Virginia-based Noah Glover (18),
(UM has other four commitments not noted above.)
Bottom line: Among UM’s 20 commitments, 15 are rated in the top 26 at their position.
Eight of the 20 are in the top 12 of their positions.
Of the 20, UM has 11 who are four-star prospects and four who are five-star players.
In ESPN’s rankings, UM has five of the top 83 — Lennear at 28, Wright at 30, Bryant at 40, Abrams at 83 and Hall at 89.
Also impressive: This program is recruiting nationally, as some of the best Canes teams did. They’re consistently winning in the West and parts of SEC country and Texas and the mid-Atlantic.
Canes basketball adds a center
UM dipped into the international market to pluck center Egor Ryzhov, who spent last season averaging 11.7 points, 5.9 rebounds and 24.2 minutes in 42 games while playing in Russia’s top professional league.
Rhyhov, 21, who’s 6-11 and 220 pounds, shot 54.9% last season but isn’t much of a distance shooter; he was 3 for 10 on threes. He figures to back up center Somto Cyril.
This will be the first U.S. college experience for Ryzhov, who was an FSU commitment for a time last offseason but did not play for the Seminoles.
“Egor is a talented frontcourt player who brings great size, skill and international experience to our program,” coach Jai Lucas said. “He has a strong feel for the game, can impact both ends of the floor and gives us another versatile piece in the paint. We’re excited to welcome him to Miami and look forward to helping him continue to develop in our system.”
Ryzhov spent the 2022-23 and 2024-25 seasons with Zenit St. Petersburg, appearing in 32 games. In 2024, he was named the VTB Youth Finals MVP while playing for Zenit-2.
On the national stage, he played on the Russian team the Euro U18 and averaged 4.3 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.7 assists.
Ryzhov is UM’s eighth addition, joining preps forward Caleb Gaskins and Chris Birden and five portal additions DeSean Goode (Robert Morris forward), Nick Dorn (Indiana guard), Academy Lewis (Villanova guard), Quin Berger (Bucknell guard) and Brent Bland (St. Peter’s guard). The Csnes have room for one more scholarship addition.
▪ Among Canes players from last year’s team, Tre Donaldson (Heat) and Ernest Udeh Jr. (Cleveland) signed two-way contracts, and Malik Reneau accepted a summer league invitation with Orlando.
This story was originally published July 1, 2026 at 3:10 PM.
