Johnny Dawkins just landed his biggest recruit since Tacko Fall...literally

UCF head basketball coach Johnny Dawkins has just signed his biggest recruit since Tacko Fall and Ibrahima Diallo.

UCF landed 7-foot-2 center Moustapha Thiam out of Senegal as the program's highest-rated recruit coming in as a five-star recruit.

Thiam has officially signed and reclassified so that he can join the Knights for the 2024-2025 season. Before reclassifying, Thiam was the no. 1 ranked center in his class and the No. 14 overall recruit. He was not suppose to join UCF until the 2025-2026 season, but he must be ready to get with the guys and get his college career started.

UCF is known for having big men on the court dating back to Fall who was 7-foot-6 and most recently Diallo who was 7 feet tall. Thiam will be the latest tall guy to hit the court for UCF.

Thiam will come to UCF from the DME Academy in Daytona Beach, Florida, so he will at least be familiar with the area. In his final season at the DME Academy, he averaged 14.4 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 4.1 blocks along with 2.3 assists.

His height will give him a big advantage over other teams, but Thiam will still have to learn how to translate his play from the Academy to college.

Thiam rounds out a 2024 class with five other players including Roaks Jocius, JJ Taylor, Benny Williams, Keyshawn Hall, and Cameron Simpson.