DENTON – North Texas lost one of its top players from the first season of coach Daniyal Robinson’s tenure to SMU, its neighbor to the south, this spring.

Now the Mean Green are getting a player who spent last season with the Mustangs in what turned out to be a player swap between the DFW schools.

Mitchell Holmes, a 6-foot-10 forward, announced his commitment to UNT on his Instagram account Thursday night.

The DFW native, who played at The Oakridge School in Arlington before spending a season at Link Year Prep and two more at SMU posted a graphic with a simple message, “Mean Green” with a green heart.

Robinson indicated earlier in the week that UNT had added a player to its recruiting class. That player turned out to be Holmes, who will make the trip across the Metroplex to join the Mean Green.

The move is the latest of several UNT has made in the offseason while restocking its roster following a 19-win campaign.

UNT lost several key players to graduation or transfer, none more important than point guard David Terrell Jr., who was snapped up off the transfer market by SMU.

Holmes spent 2024-25 as a redshirt at SMU, which played him sparingly this year. He averaged 1.7 points and 0.9 rebounds in 26 games.

Holmes scored 10 points in a win over Butler in November. His last two points of the season came in a win over Wake Forest on Jan. 20.

Holmes has been highly regarded dating back to his formative years in Dallas and will look for a new start at UNT after playing a reserve role at SMU. He was rated as a three-star prospect coming out of Link Academy and had scholarship offers from nearly a dozen schools, including Auburn, TCU and Stanford. UNT added two players this week when the Mean Green also landed Cash Chavis. The UTA transfer guard will help fill the void created by Terrell’s departure.

Losing Terrell to SMU was a tough break for UNT. He was the Mean Green’s second-leading scorer 13.8 points per game.

Holmes fills another one of UNT’s immediate needs after the Mean Green lost center Josiah Shackleford to graduation.

The pair will join a solid core at UNT, which posted its biggest win of the offseason when it hung on to Je’Shawn Stevenson. The Mean Green’s starting shooting guard led the team with an average of 17.3 points per game on his way to earning second-team All-American Conference honors.

Forward Reece Robinson and guard Cole Franklin are also set to return after starting last season.

The Mean Green have built around that core. Chavis appears poised to move into the starting point guard spot opened by Terrell’s departure.

Ousmane Ndour, who played professionally in Spain before landing at UNT midseason, will join the Mean Green’s rotation after sitting out the back half of the 2025-26 campaign.

UNT’s recruiting class also includes junior college forward Rashid Kuta as well as highly regarded high school forwards T.J. Crumble and Aeneas Alexander.

Crumble is one of the top-rated high school players to sign with UNT in the rankings era.

The addition of Holmes filled a frontcourt need for UNT as it looks to round out its roster. The picture of what the Mean Green will look like next season became a little clearer in the process.