UAB lands Commit from 6’11” Shah Hall
By Steve Irvine
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - April 4, 2026
Shah Hall’s options for his next college basketball step were plentiful. Joe Eatmon, his coach this past season at Shelton State Community College in Tuscaloosa, said he standout big man is making the right choice by pledging to UAB.
“When we got him, he was kind of in his infancy of his basketball career,” said Eatmon, who just finished the first season of his second stint as the head coach at Shelton State. “I think his potential is extremely high because he's got all the tools he needs. He’s got the hands, got the footwork. You know, Shah just hadn't played a lot of basketball. That's why we think, even though some bigger schools were recruiting him, I think UAB is the perfect fit for him because it's somewhere he can go in and play. He needs to play basketball. When we got him, he had kind of not played in a college basketball game in a year and a half. I think as the season went along this year, the more comfortable he got, the better his timing got, just the better he became.”
It’s impossible to impossible to overlook his measurables. The Tuscaloosa native, who is a 2022 graduate of Hillcrest High and committed to UAB on Friday, is 6-foot-11 and 240 pounds with what Eatmon said is 2 percent body fat. He was listed at 6-foot-8 as a high school senior and 6-foot-9 while spending a season at Northwest Mississippi Community College. Eatmon said he’s grown – in height and strength – in the two years he’s been at Shelton State.
An important part of the growth in his first year at Shelton State with him sidelined by a foot injury.
“I think last year definitely gave him a chance to work on his body,” said Eatmon, who was in his third year in Shelton State administration during that time. “I mean, he put on quite a bit of muscle mass throughout that time. It definitely gave him an opportunity to transform his body. You know, also with big guys like that, they need to play. I think it kind of also messed up his timing a little bit. It took him a little while, a couple of games to get his timing going.”
Once he got going, though, he was a big part of a ACCC championship season for the Bucs.
“He was pretty dominant for us by the time it got towards the end of the season,” Eatmon said.
Hall finished the season averaging 9.4 points, 7.8 rebounds and two blocked shots per game while shooting 65 percent from the field. Eatmon said there was a game where he just missed a triple-double with 19 points, nine rebounds and nine blocked shots and he had several double-doubles.
“Shah’s a special, special, special kid, man,” said Eatmon, who was 182-39 in his first stint as the head coach at Shelton State and finished 25-7 this past season. “His size kind of speaks for itself. His size and work ethic. Shah is probably one of the most athletic kids of his size that we've had at Shelton. So not only is he 6'11, 240, he runs and jumps really, really well for his size.”
The other thing that he can provide is rim protection that UAB probably hasn’t had since Trey Jemison was a Blazer.
“Definitely,” Eatmon said when asked if blocking shot was a strength for Hall. “At his size and with his athleticism, he really does a really good job of blocking shots. You know, he's a lob threat. And I think, you know, probably one of his best skills that gets kind of get overlooked. He's a really, really good passer as well.”
The spring signing period for college basketball opens on April 15. Hall is the first public spring commitment for the Andy Kennedy’s program. Gadsden City guard Jakobi Sharp signed with UAB in November.
As of now, it appears UAB has four returning scholarship players on the roster in guards Chance Westry and Salim London, forward Lance Carr and center Joao Das Chagas. The transfer portal doesn’t officially open for players to enter until next Tuesday. Evan Chatman, Dayjaun Anderson, Quaran McPherson, Jacob Meyer and Ari Gooch have already announced they are entering the portal.