2021 five-star Aminu Mohammed commits to Georgetown

Earlier this week, five-star Class of 2021 recruit Ahmed Mohammed announced his commitment to the Georgetown Hoyas.

Mohammed committed to the Hoyas over the likes of Florida, Maryland, Georgia, Louisville, and others.

The 16th-ranked player in the 2021 ESPN Top-100, Mohammed is an athletic shot-creator with good court vision to go with a developing long-range jump-shot. Along with his quality rebounding and defense, he is projected as a future first round NBA Draft pick by Jerry Meyer of 247 Sports.

Mohammed is the first 5-star commitment for Georgetown since Issac Copeland in 2014, and he ranks as the 3rd highest prospect to commit to Georgetown since ESPN’s recruiting database started in 2007. As of right now, Georgetown ranks 6th in the 2021 class rankings, narrowly behind Big East rival Villanova for 5th place.

Mohammed’s commitment is a big one for the program. With last year’s departures of several major contributors for the Hoyas, Georgetown’s Patrick Ewing appeared to be on the hot seat entering this upcoming season. Following the accusations of burglary, assault, and harassment by certain members of the Georgetown program in December 2019, the team has been darkened by the mutiny of multiple high-profile prospects that were once considered the saviors to the former national powerhouse.

Galen Alexander and Myron Gardner left for Texas Southern and South Plains College (JUCO), respectively. Josh LeBlanc looks his talents to the Bayou, where he will play for Will Wade at Louisiana State University (LSU). James Akinjo, the former UConn decommit, transferred mid-year last season to Arizona and is available for play this fall as a result.

Arguably the biggest blow to the Hoya program, however, was the transfer of Guard Mac McClung. A high-flying shot creator for the Hoyas, McClung generated a sizable amount of offense while on the court. After withdrawing from the NBA Draft, it took many by surprise that he decided to enter the transfer portal instead of returning to Georgetown. As such, McClung found his way to the Big-12 Conference under Chris Beard and Texas Tech.

For his reason to transfer, McClung stated, “I really wanted to stay, but things throughout my career made me realize that I couldn’t.”

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With the transfers of five critical players in such a short period of time, many questioned if Ewing was the right man to return Georgetown to national prominence. After all, other Big East programs struggled with hiring former players to coach their teams, such as St. John’s with Chris Mullin and UConn with Kevin Ollie (minus the 2014 National Championship).

In the midst of the chaos, Ewing secured the commitment of combo guard Tyler Beard in late January. Additionally, he added forward Jalin Billingsley and high-flying guard Jordan Riley over the summer to the 2021 class. The wheels really started turning, however, when four-star 6-foot-11 center Ryan Mutumbo announced his verbal commitment to the Hoyas. The son of Georgetown and NBA-great Dikembe Mutumbo, Ryan gave the patented finger wag and “No, no, no!” to offers from Florida State, Arizona, and Tennessee, among others.

Although a nice collection of commitments, the 2021 class still left some to be desired for the Hoya faithful. That all changed when Mohammed announced his commitment to Georgetown. Although Ewing isn’t out of the hole yet, bringing in 5-star recruits is a great way to start climbing out. Don’t look yet, but the clouds may soon be parting for this dormant Big East dynasty.