Wajid Aminu and his mother Anjirlic wanted to avoid the spotlight his older brothers faced. With both brothers now professional basketball players — one in the NBA — they received heavy scrutiny in high school. Wajid was destined for the same.

“I wanted him to have opportunities, have skills,” Anjirlic Aminu said. “But I didn’t want the magnifying glass. You know, it gets real hot underneath there.”

Prior to high school, that meant a move from the recruiting hotbed of Atlanta to Miami, much less regarded as a basketball hotbed. Wajid is the younger brother of Alade Aminu and Al-Farouq Aminu. Alade played college basketball at Georgia Tech, and currently plays professionally for Israeli club Hapoel Eilat. Al-Farouq, who played at Wake Forest, is in his seventh season in the NBA, and his second season as a member of the Portland Trail Blazers.

Wajid moved and played at Coral Gables High School. While it lessened the heat under the magnifying glass, it cut recruiting attention, too. Even as the younger brother of two former Atlantic Coast Conference basketball players, Wajid garnered limited interest. He wound up instead at an Atlantic Sun Conference school, the one that had recruited him the hardest, North Florida. As a freshman, he’s third on UNF (3-6) in scoring at 8.6 points per game and second in rebounding at 5.7 rebounds per game. He could make his second straight start on Saturday at No. 22 Syracuse (4-2).

“Everywhere I go, I always get the question, ‘Are you related to an NBA player?’” Wajid Aminu said. “I instantly smile, and say, ‘Yeah, I am.’”

Wajid was exposed to elite coaches as his brothers were recruited, including the late Skip Prosser, who was one of Al-Farouq’s main recruiters. Alade and Al-Farouq are 12 and eight years older than Wajid, respectively, so Wajid was around Division-I basketball from the time he was 6 years old.

“When his oldest brother went to Georgia Tech,” Anjirlic Aminu said, “he tried to run down to the locker room with the players … for halftime.”

The exposure to high-level basketball raised his on-the-court IQ, Wajid said, which he still applies today. North Florida head coach Matthew Driscoll said Wajid has a “gift” for tracking down rebounds.

“He rebounds as well as anyone I’ve coached, at any level,” Driscoll said. “Baylor, Clemson, it doesn’t matter. He has a gift and a unique talent for just going to fetch balls. Two hands, in traffic, over guys, he just has a unique ability to rebound the basketball. That translates on every level.”

Being around his older brothers also taught Wajid real-world skills. He learned about dishonest agents and sponsors that tried to take advantage of his brothers. And when he sees his brothers volunteering at hospitals and participating in the NBA’s Basketball Without Borders program, he understands life goes beyond basketball.

Wajid is “the salt of the earth,” said Driscoll, who wouldn’t be surprised if Wajid is the president of North Florida’s student body in three years.

Wajid was not as highly sought after by recruiters the way his two brothers were. Alade was listed as a four-star recruit coming out of high school, and Al-Farouq one-upped his older brother as a five-star recruit, per 247Sports.com. Wajid was not even rated by that service.

The move to Miami meant Wajid wasn’t facing competition he may have faced in Atlanta. He and his mother moved back to Atlanta (Wheeler High School) prior to his senior year of high school in an effort to regain exposure. But the move came too late for him to appear on any higher-level radars.

After the move to Atlanta, Wajid’s spot at UNF was even in doubt. Driscoll’s interest had waned after seeing him play at his new high school. UNF’s assistant coaches, however, implored Driscoll to continue recruiting him hard. They eventually all reached the conclusion that they wanted Wajid at North Florida.

Bringing Wajid to UNF has paid early dividends. Against Wright State on Sunday, Wajid impressed Driscoll with his hook shot on the way to a career-high 14 points, on a very efficient 7-for-9 from the floor.

Wajid has taken what he learned from his brothers and gone a different route. He had much less notoriety in high school and is at a much smaller school in North Florida. But Driscoll sees the potential for a similar future for Wajid — a professional basketball career.

“If he keeps working at it,” Driscoll said. “There is no limit on how good he can be.”

Published on December 1, 2016 at 11:26 pm

Contact Billy: [email protected] | @Wheyen3