Miami makes list for 4-star C Marcis Ponder

Trinton Breeze

Jul 15, 2025 2 min read

Miami and coach Jai Lucas have been going hard after the 2026 and 2027 recruiting classes, and on Tuesday afternoon, they received some notable news. Four-star center Marcis Ponder released his top seven schools, and the Hurricanes made the cut.

Marcis announced on Instagram that he’s down to Miami, Providence, Indiana, Cincinnati, Texas, Florida State, and Illinois.

Nicknamed “Baby Shaq,” it’s easy to see why when you consider his size he stands 7 feet tall and weighs 328 pounds. Ponder is a center from Springfield, Virginia, where he plays high school basketball at Gillion Basketball Academy.

He also competes on the AAU circuit with Team Breakdown, where Miami’s coaching staff has seen him play multiple times.

Ponder is rated a four-star prospect and is ranked No. 69 nationally in the 2026 class, according to the 247Sports Composite. He’s also the No. 3 player in Virginia and the No. 7 center in the country.

He previously made an unofficial visit to Miami under the former coaching staff, but no official visit has been scheduled yet with the current staff, same for the other schools in his top seven, except for Providence, which he has already visited.

According to MaxPreps, Ponder averaged 9.8 points, 9.6 rebounds, and 2.0 blocks while playing at West Oaks Academy in Florida. This upcoming season, he transferred to Gillion Academy along with head coach Kenny Gillion. On the AAU circuit, he’s been even more dominant.

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Comments (14)

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Calinative

Jul 15, 2025

This guy looks at least 32

Brains

Jul 15, 2025

Dude is a regional manager for State Farm.

cway313

Jul 15, 2025

Jai gone have me telling lies by year 2, I can feel it.

King of Allapattah

Jul 16, 2025

Ponder is from Miami. Born & raised. He just transferred to Virginia for his final year of high school. Also, his weight needs updating. Might be under 280 now. Kid has done a heckuva job losing the baby fat. I think it’ll come down to which in-state school makes him their priority.

H
hotshot

Jul 16, 2025

King of Allapattah said:
Ponder is from Miami. Born & raised. He just transferred to Virginia for his final year of high school. Also, his weight needs updating. Might be under 280 now. Kid has done a heckuva job losing the baby fat. I think it’ll come down to which in-state school makes him their priority.

How does his game compare with Michael Nwoko's at the same point.

Jul 16, 2025

King of Allapattah said:
Ponder is from Miami. Born & raised. He just transferred to Virginia for his final year of high school. Also, his weight needs updating. Might be under 280 now. Kid has done a heckuva job losing the baby fat. I think it’ll come down to which in-state school makes him their priority.

He's bounced around every year in HS. Norland, OTE, private in Orlando, and the place he's at now isn't even a school in VA. Just a halfcourt training facility that's run by a New Balance AAU team.

Granted its much more prevalent in Hoops but it always screams red flags for me.

Gables Canes

Jul 16, 2025

Do we have a shot here? Seems like we were late to offer compared to most of the others in the mix.

King of Allapattah

Jul 16, 2025

DC3 said:
He's bounced around every year in HS. Norland, OTE, private in Orlando, and the place he's at now isn't even a school in VA. Just a halfcourt training facility that's run by a New Balance AAU team.

Granted it’s much more prevalent in Hoops but it always screams red flags for me.

In the old days I would have agreed with you on the bouncing around from school to school being somewhat of a concern. However, with HS kids now getting in the NIL mix, I could understand how a kid from Opa-Locka would go to school dependent on their NIL.

King of Allapattah

Jul 16, 2025

Gables Canes said:
Do we have a shot here? Seems like we were late to offer compared to most of the others in the mix.

I think we do have a shot but it’s going to come down to how serious Miami is about him. Few times I’ve been around him, he seems to be a Miami fan and playing at home appeals to him. For whatever reason, just doesn’t seem like this staff is making him a priority.

Last edited: Jul 16, 2025

King of Allapattah

Jul 16, 2025

hotshot said:
How does his game compare with Michael Nwoko's at the same point.

I saw Nwoko has a senior in HS. Ponder is going into his senior year. Based off that I’d say they’re very similar. Nwoko was a little better though particularly on the offensive end. Ponder is the better shot blocker and rebounder.

Last edited: Jul 16, 2025

H
hotshot

Jul 16, 2025

King of Allapattah said:
I saw Nwoko has a senior in HS. Ponder is going into his senior year. Based off that I’d say they’re very similar. Nwoko was a little better though particularly on the offensive end. Ponder is the better shot blocker and rebounder.

So ... at this point, Ponder sounds very much like a work in progress offensively. Doesn't sound like he might ever be ACC caliber on that end of the floor.

Nwoko certainly wasn't ready during his one season at UM. I always thought his nerves were his biggest impediment. When he got the ball down low, he just never could relax.

Jul 16, 2025

King of Allapattah said:
In the old days I would have agreed with you on the bouncing around from school to school being somewhat of a concern. However, with HS kids now getting in the NIL mix, I could understand how a kid from Opa-Locka would go to school dependent on their NIL.

I mean I don't really care that he' an Opa-Locka kid, ones that transfer every single year in HS is a red flag to me. Especially to the fake academy's lilke hes at up in Northern VA. Just reeks of handlers and a guys who's portaling after a year if he has a good year to get a bigger bag.

King of Allapattah

Jul 17, 2025

DC3 said:
I mean I don't really care that he' an Opa-Locka kid, ones that transfer every single year in HS is a red flag to me. Especially to the fake academy's lilke hes at up in Northern VA. Just reeks of handlers and a guys who's portaling after a year if he has a good year to get a bigger bag.

Only reason I mentioned Opa-Locka was to give you an idea of his background. It's not like he's coming from Pinecrest where his family is swimming in money. I know he left Norland because at the time Florida schools weren't allowed to give student athletes NIL deals. OTE offered him money and he took it, just like so many other kids have done so. I can respect your opinion of it "screams red flags" when a kid transfers to different high schools, but again in this day and age, the landscape of high school basketball and sports in general has changed dramatically. Whether it's solely NIL, to gain more exposure, play against better competition, or find a better fit for their development, many of the top student athletes are changing schools like they change their socks. I think it's a bit hypocritical to not raise red flags for guys like AJ Dybansta, Scottie Barnes, and a whole slew of others but do it for Ponder. Time will tell how this all plays out for him, but be seems like a nice kid off the court. Very yes sir, no sir type. Personally, I think IF he can stay healthy (knock on wood), we're looking at a future NBA pro. And those are the type of prospects our program should be going after.

King of Allapattah

Jul 17, 2025

hotshot said:
So ... at this point, Ponder sounds very much like a work in progress offensively. Doesn't sound like he might ever be ACC caliber on that end of the floor.

Nwoko certainly wasn't ready during his one season at UM. I always thought his nerves were his biggest impediment. When he got the ball down low, he just never could relax.

Yes, he's still a work in progress, but I'm eager to see how Ponder develops his final year of high school;. Many times, a big man will see his game take a big jump their senior year. No doubt Ponder has improved over the years, but last few months his offensive game has shown glimpses. He's no longer just a put back or dump off dunker. He's shown some drop step moves, up and unders, reverse pivots. Even his FT shooting looks improved. If his offensive game can close the gap with his defense, I don't think there's any question he'll be a first year contributor at any level of college basketball.