Florida Atlantic Men’s Basketball brought in their fourth player through the transfer portal Friday morning. Former Colorado big man Ifaola “Tacko” Fawaz has committed to paradise and head coach John Jakus, more than likely solidifying the Owls’ starting center for next season.

Fawaz, a former 4-star recruit out of Dream City Christian HS in Arizona, played his true freshman season at Colorado, playing limited minutes in 20 games and 2 starts with the Buffaloes this past season. He was a McDonald’s All-American Nominee and ranked as the #23 overall center in the 2025 class (247sports).

The Lagos, Nigeria native stands 7-feet tall and comes in at around 245 lbs, providing great and much-needed size for FAU’s frontcourt. Fawaz is a guy who has the potential to excel at both ends of the court. He is a physical specimen with a very high motor that has shown great ability as a rim protector and a guy who can bang in the post while being a more than solid rebounder. On the scoring front, Tacko is not a player who will get you that many points on a game-to-game basis. However, with FAU’s new backcourt of Kanaan Carlyle, Jelani Hamilton, and Braeden Speed, the 7-foot physical big man will have great set-up opportunities from his guards under the basket, whether he catches, hits, and scores or brings down the house on an alley-oop.

Knowing what FAU’s coaching staff has done with big-man prospects the past couple of years (Matas Vokietaitis the best example), Fawaz becomes the next enticing big to come through Boca Raton as he will look to develop his game further and help the Owls reach greatness in 2026-27.