Five-Star Recruit Makur Maker Commits to Howard University

Makur Maker is one of the best recruits in the 2020 class, a consensus five-star center and the 17th-best overall prospect in the class. He made waves last night by committing to Howard University, and he hopes to be the first of many.

I was the 1st to announce my visit to Howard & other started to dream “what if”. I need to make the HBCU movement real so that others will follow. I hope I inspire guys like Mikey Williams to join me on this journey. I am committing to Howard U & coach Kenny Blakeney #MakerMob
— Makur Maker (@MakurMaker) July 3, 2020

Maker is the first five-star recruit to commit to Howard in the 21st century, and the highest-ranked prospect to commit to a historically black college or university since ESPN starting tracking prospect rankings in 2007.

Maker and Mikey Williams are the two biggest recruits to make noise about committing to a HBCU in the weeks and months following the death of George Floyd. Maker hopes Williams, the top-ranked shooting guard of the 2023 class, will follow in his footsteps to make Howard a basketball powerhouse like it never has been before.

We may look back on Maker's decision as a significant development in college basketball recruiting. Howard doesn't have the money or influence of the biggest programs in the NCAA, but one of the many ripple effects of what has happened over the last month is that college athletes are thinking bigger than ever before. Mississippi State running back Kylin Hill helped change the state flag. Oklahoma State running back Chuba Hubbard gave Mike Gundy's OAN shirt national attention, leading to an apology from the head coach.

Maker might be the first of a new generation of recruits who care more about making historically black universities a regular talking point in the sports world than signing on with historically successful programs.