Michigan basketball earns commitment from Youssef Khayat, coveted Lebanese forward

Chandler Engelbrecht, Detroit Free Press
·2 min read

Michigan basketball has landed a commitment from one of the sport's most coveted international prospects.

2022 small forward Youssef Khayat choose the Wolverines over Xavier, Wake Forest and DePaul, the 6 feet 8, 195-pound prospect announced Sunday. Originally from Lebanon, Khayat moved to France when he was 15 to compete in the French professional league. For Limoges CSP in France's U21 program last season, he averaged a team-high 17.4 points, 7.7 rebounds and 1.8 assists.

Khayat, who turned 19 in March, also suited up for Lebanon's senior national team and helped the country win its first FIBA Arab Championship. In his announcement video with The Field of 68, Khayat said his commitment to U-M was strongly influenced by getting the chance to play for coach Juwan Howard.

"From the start, I felt at home with (Michigan's) coaching staff," Khayat told the network. "(And) with Coach Juwan, who's one of the best coaches right now in college basketball or even in basketball. ... He told me my role, how I can impact the team, so I'm excited for it."

Khayat isn't sure when he'll begin the over 4,000 mile journey from France to Ann Arbor, but he said it'll happen "very soon."

Prior to the addition of Khayat, Michigan's 2022 recruiting class ranked No. 10 in the country by 247's Composite Rankings. Khayat is now the final member of the class as U-M's roster of 13 scholarship sports are taken up. Khayat joins four-stars Tarris Reed, Jett Howard, Dug McDaniel and Gregg Glenn in the class.

Howard's Wolverines finished last season 19-15, and lost two players, Brandon Johns Jr. and Frankie Collins, to the NCAA transfer portal and another two, Caleb Houstan and Moussa Diabate, to the NBA draft. They picked up transfers in Princeton guard Jaelin Llewellyn and Duke forward Joey Baker.

Chandler Engelbrecht is a reporting intern at The Detroit Free Press and can be reached at CEngelbrecht@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @ctengelbrecht.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan basketball: Youssef Khayat, coveted Lebanese forward commits