Adlan Elamin Explains New Leadership Role he Has Taken on With The Cincinnati Bearcats

The Cincinnati Bearcats are taking on a new era under head coach Jerrod Calhoun.

Calhoun won’t be doing it all by himself, however. The former Youngstown State and Utah State head coach is enlisting the likes of 12 transfers, including four from the Aggies in MJ Collins, Adlan Elamin, Elijah Perryman and David Iweze.

Those four factor into a class 247Sports ranks as the Big 12’s fourth-best transfer portal class and 23rd overall.

While each former Utah State player is bringing in their own skill set and role to the program, the 6-foot-9 Elamin is looking to bring leadership to the Bearcats.

“I've just been trying to step up as a leader, cause I've obviously been through it last year, so just every day, just trying to help guys out, anywhere I can. I'm saying plays, things like that, just how he goes about certain things and everything like that. I'm just trying to keep everybody up to speed,” quoted Elamin in front of the media earlier this month.

At Utah State last season, Elamin averaged 6.7 points per game to go along with 3.1 rebounds, on roughly 20 minutes per game.

Elamin notched double-digit scoring figures 11 times last season, including a season-high of 15. The former three-star recruit finished the season with one double-double in a 10-point, 11-rebound outing in Utah State’s 86-66 win over New Mexico.

Elamin comes to Cincinnati ranked as the nation’s 137th-best transfer and 32nd-best overall power forward.

Calhoun and the Aggies finished the 2025 season with a stellar 29-7 record in the Mountain West Conference, ending as the Mountain West’s regular-season champion and conference tournament champion, booking themselves a spot in the NCAA Tournament.

After taking down the Villanova Wildcats in round one of the NCAA Tournament, the Aggies’ Cinderella story was promptly closed by Arizona, the Big 12 title winners.

Shortly after, Cincinnati hired Calhoun and he's since revived an exciting feeling across Fifth Third Arena. While Calhoun is coming off of back-to-back NCAA Tournaments, the Bearcats have not made the center stage since the 2018-19 campaign in Mick Cronin’s last year at the helm.

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