Norland 6-foot-10 Hooper Dewan Huell Picks Miami Hurricanes

Huell is just the third five-star prospect to commit to the Hurricanes since 2002.

Huell chose Miami over SC, his other finalist, and a host of offers including Florida State, Mississippi State, Florida, Kansas, and North Carolina.

He previously was considering Xavier University, Purdue University and the University of MA in addition to in and Miami.

If Huell chooses Miami – and he is widely believed to – he would give the Hurricanes a budding National Basketball Association prospect to go along with next year’s roster: seniors Davon Reed and Kamari Murphy, transfer Rashad Muhammad, juniors James Palmer and Ja’Quan Newton, sophomores Anthony Lawrence Jr., Ebuka Izundu and freshmen Brown and Rodney Miller.

“They’re down the street”, said Lawton Williams, Huell’s high school coach.

“Stay home, your city, your town. Talking with the coaches, I felt comfortable…they made me feel like I was already a part of the team”, Huell said. As a center, he is ranked No. 17 in the nation. “He’s very strong, extremely athletic and loves to get after it. He’s the type of kid if a coach tells him to do something, he’s going to do”.

“If he does what he does well, he can help them rebound and bring toughness”, Williams said. “Huell will have to get bigger and contribute more as a defensive rebounder and post defender, but his ceiling is high … He’s more sure of what he wants to do with the ball now, he’s bounding out of his area better”.

Huell, named The Miami Herald’s Class 8A-6A Player of the Year and a two-time All-Dade first team selection, is the first five-star recruit for the Hurricanes since DeQuan Jones in 2008. It can’t be said enough how big of a commitment this is for the program.

This is the second tough loss of the early signing period for SC, which also struck out with ESPN 100 guard last week. A scheduled visit to South Florida was canceled and Huell began final deliberations with his family.