MEAC Basketball: Morgan State lands 4-Star PG Naseem Khaalid

Morgan State landed arguably the highest-rated recruit in years to the program in former Florida State commit Naseem Khaalid. This could be a sign of things to come when it comes to bringing improved talent to the Baltimore school. Can Morgan keep up the recruiting momentum in MEAC Basketball?

Morgan State head coach Kevin Broadus has developed a reputation as one of the better recruiters in the country, serving in pivotal recruiting roles at the University Of Maryland, and Georgetown University. It looks like he’s brought that acumen to MEAC Basketball in a big way by landing composite 4-star point guard Naseem Khaalid.

Khaalid was pursued by a number of Power 5 programs and initially committed to ACC power Florida State as a sophmore. Naseem joins fellow 3-star shooting guard and Baltimore native Will Thomas in a two-man recruiting class that may be at the top of the MEAC  early in the off-season recruiting window.

The 6-2, 185 pound Sumter, South Carolina guard garnered a pretty substantial amount of acclaim during his high school and prep career. He earned offers from Georgetown, Rutgers, North Florida, Stetson, UNLV, and Florida State, with the Seminoles earning his initial verbal commitment in 2017. He later de-committed in 2019, with Georgetown and Rutgers extending offers to him after he re-opened his recruitment.

Broadus and his staff seemingly flew under the radar for this recruitment, given some of the competition Morgan State’s program was facing to obtain his services. It’s extremely rare that D1 HBCU programs win straight-up recruiting battles with ‘Power 5’ conference competition right out of high school, but Kevin Broadus’ reputation as a gifted recruiter may have made the difference in winning this particular battle.

Naseem Khaalid’s floor game is pretty advanced; He sees the floor extremely well, and he has a really good command of the dribble, which enables him to get into the lane whenever he wants. Once he’s there, he’s got the kind of strength and body control that lets him absorb and finish plays through contact at the rim. He’s the kind of guard that could come in and really make a difference in a backcourt rotation that’s already pretty solid by conference standards.

It’s a pretty impressive start to the recruiting cycle for Morgan State. It may also be a warning to the rest of the MEAC that Morgan will be a force to be reckoned with in conference and on the recruiting trail.