Five-star lineman: ‘Out of all the head coaches, I’ve heard from Mark Richt the most’
Evan Neal mostly likes to play his recruitment close to the vest, but he swears that’s not why his Twitter account vanished a few weeks ago.
“Twitter deleted my account,” Neal said last week. “Please, put that out.”
As he explains it, Neal opened the Twitter app on his phone on his birthday, expecting the balloons to flood his screen. They didn’t and the five-star tackle quickly realized why: When he made his Twitter years ago, he had to give a fake age. So he dug into the settings menu and tried to correct his birthday and suddenly he couldn’t do anything.
“It locked me out and then it deleted my account,” Neal said, “so now I’ve got to start all over from scratch, and I haven’t gotten around to making a new Twitter because it made me mad and I don’t even want to deal with that.”
The involuntary blackout still feels sort of fitting for a prospect whose spent basically his entire high school career hearing from college coaches. The Okeechobee native first committed to the Alabama Crimson Tide when he was a sophomore, but backed away from his pledge about a week later. Now at Bradenton IMG Academy, Neal has met coaches from just about every high-profile college program, including the Miami Hurricanes.
Still, Neal never tips his hand. The Under Armour All-American is less than two months from picking a school during the December early signing period and he doesn’t talk about any school as a clear-cut favorite. Instead, Neal’s recruitment is a fierce battle between Miami and Alabama entering the final months.
Neal has already locked in his first official visit with the Crimson Tide for its home game against the Auburn Tigers next month. No one has made Neal a bigger priority, however, than the Hurricanes. Miami sent multiple coaches across the state Saturday to watch IMG Academy’s 52-7 rout of Delaware’s Middletown, including offensive line coach Stacy Searels and quarterbacks coach Jon Richt. The Hurricanes, however, differentiate themselves with the head coach.
“In all honesty, their coaching staff reaches out to me the most,” Neal said. “Out of all the head coaches, I’ve heard from Mark Richt the most.”
The coach texts Neal good-luck messages before every game. He checks in with the elite offensive lineman randomly in the middle of the week. The Hurricanes, who could start three senior offensive linemen moving forward, desperately need help on the line in the Class of 2019 and Neal is as good an option as anyone.
Neal has lineage in Coral Gables. His uncle is former Miami running back Cleveland Gary and Neal grew up a Hurricanes fan in a family which raised him to be one. Miami made Neal one of its priorities early, and Richt has never wavered. Neal said Richt has consistently been the head coach to reach out most often.
In Neal, the Hurricanes could find their left tackle of the future. The 6-8, 360-pound senior is in his second year as IMG’s starting left tackle and the 247Sports.com composite rankings consider him the No. 25 prospect in his class regardless of position. This offseason, Neal shed about 30 pounds of bad weight. The final holdouts who thought Neal might be a guard watched him move with a new-found grace.
“I haven’t seen a better offensive tackle since I’ve been coaching,” Ascenders coach Kevin Wright said last week, “especially from a long-term potential standpoint.”
The 247Sports Crystal Ball has viewed Miami as the favorite for a while now, although Alabama has made up ground. The Hurricanes currently hold six of the nine predictions with the other three pointing in the Crimson Tide’s favor.
Alabama is always tough to beat, but Richt’s words hold weight. Miami has made Neal feel as important as anyone this cycle.
“For the head guy to reach out to you the most, it means something,” Neal said. “It shows me that they want me really bad.”
News and nuggets:
▪ The Hurricanes’ top-ranked Class of 2021 got even stronger Thursday when unranked running back Thad Franklin committed to Miami just two days after the Hurricanes extended an offer. It capped a busy week for the Hollywood Chaminade-Madonna sophomore, who also picked up offers from the Florida State Seminoles, Georgia Bulldogs, Mississippi State Bulldogs and Penn State NIttany Lions in the past week.
▪ Miami also finally sent out an offer to Florida’s No. 1 player in the 2021 cycle. Jon Richt made his way up to Ocala Vanguard, quarterback N’Kosi Perry’s alma mater, last Friday to watch Bryce Langston, a four-star defensive end in the 247Sports.com rankings. The assistant coach pulled the trigger with an offer. Langston also attended the Florida State game Oct. 6.
▪ The Hurricanes did take a tough hit on the trail Tuesday when four-star defensive end Braylen Ingraham orally committed to the Crimson Tide. The Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas senior named Miami his favorite multiple times throughout the recruiting process before he picked Alabama. Ingraham would have given the Hurricanes some much-needed immediate depth at defensive tackle as two of Miami’s top contributors this season are seniors. Ingraham will get to stick at defensive end with the Crimson Tide.
▪ The Hurricanes made the most of the bye week. Mark Richt even got to see a game last Friday as he headed out to Southridge to watch Tyrique Stevenson. The four-star cornerback is Miami’s top remaining target in Miami-Dade County.
▪ Mark-Antony Richards is another of the Hurricanes most coveted targets in the 2019 cycle and he will take his first official visit this weekend. The four-star athlete from Wellington is headed up to Penn State this weekend, which will give the Nittany Lions a chance to make up ground on Miami and the Auburn. Richards, who is the younger brother of former Hurricanes wide receiver Ahmmon Richards, plans to officially visit Auburn early next month. A previously scheduled official visit with Miami earlier this month didn’t happen after his brother’s career-ending injury was diagnosed.
▪ The Nittany Lions will host a couple other players whom Miami has recruited this cycle. Four-star defensive end Adisa Isaac and three-star cornerback John Dixon are both set to be in State College, Pennsylvania. The Hurricanes aren’t a major contender for either.
▪ JJ Weaver’s decision date is on the horizon and the four-star defensive end will take his final official visit before making his pledge this weekend. Weaver will visit the hometown school as he’ll spend the weekend with the Louisville Cardinals ahead of his announcement early next month. Weaver, who originally hails from South Florida, officially visited Miami for its win against the Seminoles. Weaver now attends Moore in Louisville, Kentucky. The Kentucky Wildcats and Purdue Boilermakers are also in contention.
This story was originally published October 26, 2018 at 11:04 AM.