Syracuse Basketball: 7-foot-4 transfer center from FSU is officially Orange

SU Athletics has announced that Philadelphia native Naheem McLeod is officially a member of the Syracuse basketball program.

First and foremost, a huge congratulations and welcome from Orange Nation to Naheem, who has two years of collegiate eligibility remaining!

The 7-foot-4, 255-pound McLeod, a sophomore center, has transferred to the ‘Cuse from fellow Atlantic Coast Conference member Florida State. Over the past two seasons with the Seminoles, McLeod played in 46 games.

Interestingly enough, in joining the Orange, he becomes the tallest player in Syracuse basketball program history, according to a press release on cuse.com.

McLeod gives the team a total of four centers on the 2023-24 roster, and he provides the Orange with some critical depth at this position following the departure of senior Jesse Edwards to West Virginia.

Other centers on the upcoming campaign’s roster are sophomore Mounir Hima, freshman Peter Carey and 2023 three-star commit William Patterson, who is a senior at The Patrick School in Hillside, N.J.

Center Naheem McLeod has officially transferred to Syracuse basketball.

For FSU in the 2022-23 term, McLeod appeared in 28 contests, and he started 11 of those games. He averaged 13.1 minutes, 3.8 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per encounter, while connecting on 54.7 percent from the field.

This past February, when the Orange defeated Florida State on the road, 76-67, McLeod tallied a season-high 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the field, to go along with eight rebounds, two blocks and one assist, in 26 minutes off of the bench.

As a freshman for the Seminoles in 2021-22, McLeod played in 18 games, averaging 11.1 minutes, 4.5 points, 2.1 rebounds and 0.4 blocks per contest. SU Athletics says that he missed the last 10 match-ups of 2021-22 due to a hand injury.

Ahead of 2023-24, McLeod is one of four players who have transferred into Syracuse basketball. Several recruiting services rate him as a three-star transfer prospect, and he’s placed at No. 245 across the country in national transfer rankings on the On3 Web site.

In mid-April, McLeod entered the NCAA’s transfer portal, and he reportedly heard from a range of college teams. Toward the beginning of May, he took an official visit to the Hill, and it was his only official visit this off-season.

Before his time at Florida State, McLeod suited up for one season at Chipola College in Marianna, Fla., where he averaged 5.8 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.5 rebounds per game while starting 19 of 28 affairs.

Per SU Athletics, he helped lead Chipola College to a 23-5 overall record, and the Indians reached the semifinals of the National Junior College Athletic Association (“NJCAA”) Tournament.

McLeod, a member of the 2019 recruiting class, was a three-star prospect who attended Plymouth Whitemarsh High School in Plymouth Meeting, Pa. I didn’t see him listed in the national rankings for this cycle, but Rivals.com did rate McLeod as the No. 28 center in the 2019 class.

As both a junior and a senior at Plymouth Whitemarsh, McLeod landed Class 6A first-team All-State honors, according to cuse.com.