BREAKING: 6-foot-10 PF Chris Birden Jr commits to Miami Hurricanes

Miami has landed South Kent (Conn.) power forward Chris Birden Jr., who pledged to the Hurricanes on Tuesday. Birden is the second commit of UM’s 2026 recruiting class, joining five-star small forward Caleb Gaskins.

Birden chose Miami over others from Texas State, Western Carolina, Northeastern, East Tennessee State and California Baptist. Associate coach Charlton “C.Y.” Young played a major role in this commitment.

Young was a college teammate and roommate of Birden’s father, Chris Birden Sr. Together, the two helped lead Georgia Southern to the 1992 NCAA Tournament, which was the last time the program advanced to The Big Dance. 

“He’s always kept in touch with me,” Birden told CaneSport in October about his relationship with Young. “In these past couple of years, he’s seen something in me, seeing that I have the potential to be a pro, be an NBA guy.”

Birden took an official visit to Miami from Oct. 2–5, which helped cement the Hurricanes’ status as the front-runner in his recruitment.

“I really enjoyed it, really great campus feel, really great coaching staff, great facilities. It seems like they have a really good team out there,” Birden said about the visit.. “One of the biggest takeaways I got for me personally was just getting my body right, just seeing how physical those guys are in practice, seeing how big they are. Seeing how important the weight room is at the next level is a really big thing for me seeing that, so that kind of pushed me to really start taking care of my body and really investing in my body early.”

Miami now has eight players on its 2026–27 roster and has five remaining spots to fill.

CaneSport’s Take

Birden will likely assume a developmental bench role next season – similar to that of Jordyn Kee and John Laboy II this past year. We think that Birden has promising long-term upside because of his perimeter-oriented skillset, complemented by his lengthy frame.