Get to know Canes’ 2020 recruiting class: Bryan Robinson solid to UM after staff changes
Just because Bryan Robinson committed to the Miami Hurricanes when Mark Richt was coach and Ron Dugans was wide receivers coach doesn’t necessarily mean the four-star wide receiver felt any reservations when the offensive coaching staff turned over at the end of last year.
It’s now been almost two months since Richt abruptly retired and Manny Diaz, in his first full day as coach on New Year’s Eve, fired Miami’s entire offensive staff and Robinson hasn’t wavered from his commitment to the Hurricanes at all.
“I understand it’s a business,” Robinson said, “so I wasn’t disappointed.”
Robinson, the No. 79 overall player in the 247Sports.com composite rankings for the Class of 2020, has been one of Miami’s strongest pledges since he orally committed to the Hurricanes at Paradise Camp in the summer. The second highest ranked prospect in Miami’s class, Robinson stuck with Miami even after a chaotic end to 2018 in Coral Gables, then made it down to campus Feb. 3 for the Hurricanes’ junior day event.
The junior from Palm Beach Central made the trip down to Miami-Dade County a day after taking in the Florida State Seminoles’ junior day event in Tallahassee. Dugans, who was Robinson’s primary recruiter for the Hurricanes, is now Florida State’s wide receivers coach, so the Seminoles could be a factor in his recruitment moving forward. Robinson told reporters at The Opening Orlando regional Sunday he’s planning visits with Florida State and the Florida Gators for the spring or summer.
Robinson’s recruitment will provide another telling test for Taylor Stubblefield. The new wide receivers coach had the luxury of taking over at Miami with two four-star South Florida wide receivers committed in Robinson and Northwestern’s Marcus Fleming. The other in-state schools will try to pry both out of the Miami metropolitan area, so Stubblefield will have his work cut out to hang on to the blue-chip prospects.
Like Fleming, Robinson got to spend some time with Stubblefield at junior day and he’s been impressed by the position coach’s resume.
“Coach Stubbs is a great wide receiver,” Robinson said of the assistant coach, who ended his career with the Purdue Boilermakers as the nation’s all-time leader in receptions. “He knows a lot about the game and position.”
Robinson might be the most important prospect for the Hurricanes to hang on to. The 6-foot, 175-pound receiver is one of the Miami metro area’s truly elite wideouts and the Hurricanes have struggled at times to win recruiting battles for those prospects when outside heavyweights get involved. In the Class of 2019, the Clemson Tigers beat out Miami for five-star South Dade wide receiver Frank Ladson. In the Class of 2017, the Alabama Crimson Tide beat out the Hurricanes to land five-star wide receiver Jerry Jeudy out of Deerfield Beach.
After catching 45 passes for 976 yards and nine touchdowns as a junior in Wellington, Robinson boasts an offer list a dozen teams long, including the Georgia Bulldogs and Penn State Nittany Lions.
To win recruiting battles like Robinson’s, Diaz hopes a change in culture will make a difference. Robinson said it was on display at Miami’s junior day.
Said Robinson: “There was way more energy.”
This story was originally published February 27, 2019 at 3:18 PM.
