A look at some Miami-FSU recruiting battles, and prospects set to be in Tallahassee
Neither the Miami Hurricanes nor Florida Seminoles are having the sort of season they expect and recruiting for both, understandably, has suffered. Florida State only has nine blue-chip recruits in the 247Sports.com composite rankings for the Class of 2020. Miami only has eight.
Both schools hold at least 20 oral commitments in the 2020 recruiting cycle, but there are still some Hurricanes-Seminoles recruiting battles to monitor as each team tries to fill some of the final spots with blue-chip in-state prospects.
The two most notable battles remaining involving both Miami and Florida State, coincidentally, are for Champagnat Catholic four-star cornerback Jalen Harrell and Tampa Berkeley Prep four-star defensive end Jaylen Harrell. The 6-2, 180-pound defensive back decommitted from the Seminoles last month and is now one of the Hurricanes’ top targets in the secondary, although he’s still considering Florida State. The 6-3, 235-pound defensive lineman with a similar name has had a quieter recruitment, but he visited both the Hurricanes and Florida State in July.
Neither, however, are slated to be in Tallahassee on Saturday. The corner will be in Atlanta this weekend for an official visit with the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, while the end hasn’t publicly made any plans — and hasn’t taken any visits in the fall as he plans to wait until the traditional National Signing Day next year to make a decision.
While there’s a strong chance the former stays home at Miami, there’s no sense of which way the latter might be leaning.
There a few more prospects of note to the Hurricanes set to be at Doak Cambell Stadium on Saturday, 247Sports reported. Here’s a quick look at some of those 2020 recruiting battles between Miami and the Seminoles:
Jaylan Knighton, 4-star RB, Deerfield Beach (Florida State commit)
Knighton orally committed to the Seminoles in July, picking Florida State over the Hurricanes and Ohio State Buckeyes. The 5-9, 194-pound tailback hasn’t shown any signs of wavering from the pledge, but he did show up in Miami Gardens last month to watch the Hurricanes’ loss to the Virginia Tech Hokies at Hard Rock Stadium.
Miami initially wanted to have two running backs in the class and hoped to pair Knighton with Belen Jesuit four-star running back Donald Chaney Jr. The Hurricanes would still be happy to add the elite South Florida halfback, even if the odds don’t seem great right now. It’s worth nothing, though, Knighton comes from a family of Miami fans and the Hurricanes will likely end a long drought of landing Bucks in December when Deerfield Beach three-star athlete Xavier Restrepo signs his National Letter of Intent.
Malachi Wideman, 4-star WR, Venice (Florida State commit)
Miami hasn’t offered Wideman, but wide receivers coach Taylor Stubblefield has made contact with the two-sport standout. The Hurricanes have expanded their board at wideout throughout the fall, which makes the 6-4, 180-pound receiver at least somewhat interesting. Wideman, who’s also a three-star small forward in the 247Sports composite rankings, has 52 catches for 731 yards and eight touchdowns this year.
For Miami, Wideman still clearly sits behind players like American Heritage three-star wide receiver Douglas Emilien and Dazalin Worsham, a four-star wide receiver from Hewitt-Trussville in Trussville, Alabama. The Hurricanes did just offer a similar sort of prospect Thursday, though, extending an offer to three-star wide receiver Kyren Lacy, a Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns commit from Thibodeaux in Louisiana.
Kendall Dennis, 4-star CB, Lakeland
Dennis looked like a major target for Miami in the spring, but the four-star cornerback hasn’t come down to campus at all this fall. He was, however, in Orlando in August to watch the Hurricanes’ loss to the then-No. 8 Florida Gators at Camping World Stadium.
The 6-foot, 178-defensive back will have a similar opportunity to see Miami this weekend. If the Hurricanes are going to get back into this recruitment, it could start Saturday. The Auburn Tigers and Tennessee Volunteers have looked like the two top suitors, though, in a relatively quiet recruitment. The Gators also have a history of scooping up Dreadnaughts at will.
