SHAKER HEIGHTS, Ohio -- West Virginia has landed one of Northeast Ohio's biggest prizes. On Wednesday, Shaker Heights senior Esa Ahmad announced that he has committed to play basketball for the Mountaineers.
In Ahmad, who is ranked No. 41 in the Class of 2015 by ESPN.com, West Virginia will be getting a 6-foot-8, 210-pound wing, who led Shaker Heights in points (26.5), rebounds (11.5), assists (3.5), blocks (2) and steals (2) per game as a junior.
He was named the cleveland.com Player of the Year for the 2013-14 season and is rated four stars by 247 Sports.
West Virginia originally offered Ahmad on Sept. 24, 2013, and has been relentless in its pursuit.
Mountaineers coach Bob Huggins has made several visits to Shaker Heights since he began recruiting Ahmad, while the senior forward visited the West Virginia campus this past weekend. (See Esa Ahmad's complete recruiting timeline).
Ahmad chose West Virginia over Ohio State, Maryland, Oregon and Wisconsin.
This is the third player in the Class of 2015 to commit to West Virginia. Point guard James Bolden and center Levi Cook are also part of the recruiting class.
This is the highest ranked player that has committed to West Virginia since Kevin Jones, ranked No. 34, in 2008.
Ahmad seems to be a fit at multiple positions at West Virginia. The projected roster for when he is a freshman has two scholarship players at shooting guard, one at small forward and four at power forward.
On Aug. 28, Ahmad cut his list down to five schools -- Ohio State, Maryland, Oregon, West Virginia and Wisconsin. In the two weekends since then, he has taken visits to Maryland and West Virginia. He had previously visited Ohio State.
The decision by Ahmad means that Ohio State will likely miss out on the top three Ohio players in the class of 2015. On Sept. 1, Villa Angela-St. Joseph senior Carlton Bragg, ranked No. 14 by ESPN.com, did not include Ohio State in his top five schools.
Franklin senior Luke Kennard, ranked No. 31 in his class and the reigning Mr. Basketball winner, committed to Duke in March. The last time Ohio State missed out on the state's top three players was in 2012, when the Buckeyes had zero total commits.
Follow our new high school sports Twitter account @NEOvarsity and tag your high school sports Tweets and score updates with the #NEOvarsity hashtag.
Contact high school sports reporter David Cassilo by email (dcassilo@cleveland.com) or Twitter (@dcassilo). Or log in and leave a message in the comments section below.
Ad Choices