5-Star Shelton Henderson Commits to Miami, Follows Jai Lucas After Duke Releases LOI

Three days after Shelton Henderson de-committed from Duke and was released from his National Letter of Intent, the 5-star small forward told Joe Tipton of On3 that he has committed to Miami.

"It was easy to choose Miami because of Coach Jai Lucas," Henderson said. "He believes in me and what I can bring to the program. I just wanted to come into a program and be comfortable knowing I have a great support system, and I think Miami provides that. I can't wait to get down there and win some games with a great group of guys."

The 36-year-old Lucas served as an assistant coach at Duke for the past three seasons before taking the head-coaching position at Miami in March, which seemingly factored into Henderson's decision to leave the Blue Devils for the Hurricanes.

As Travis Branham of 247Sports noted, Lucas was Henderson's "primary recruiter" and the pair have "strong connections... Not only are they both Texans, but Henderson attends the same high school Lucas graduated from and played for a team run by Lucas' family during the summers in Nike's EYBL."

So once Lucas took Miami's gig, Henderson following him was a very real possibility.

"It's going to be a big overhaul," Lucas told reporters at the time about rebuilding the Hurricanes. "My expectation coming in was that I would need to get 13 new players just because that's the way it is. But you never know of the opportunity of people coming back."

Landing Henderson was a great start in that overhaul.

The incoming freshman is considered the No. 21 player overall in the Class of 2025, according to 247Sports' Composite Rankings, the No. 4 small forward and the No. 2 player from the state of Texas.

He was previously part of a loaded Duke class that featured three incoming 5-star freshmen—Cameron Boozer, Nikolas Khamenia and Cayden Boozer, all top-22 prospects. With his departure, Duke now has the No. 3 overall recruiting class in 2025, while Miami now sits at No. 34.