A bye would normally mean a big recruiting weekend. Here’s how UM’s adjusting amid COVID
In a normal year, the Miami Hurricanes’ midseason bye week would mean racking up the miles — either airline miles or the odometers on coaches’ cars. A weekend like this would be dedicated to seeing as many recruits in person as possible and particularly checking on some prospects from outside South Florida, whom Miami doesn’t get to see as often.
The COVID-19 pandemic means this is all changed. The NCAA instituted a dead period running through the end of the year, which means no in-person contact between players and coaches. All the Hurricanes’ recruiting since March has had to be done over the phone and video chats.
“It’s had a massive effect of which we won’t really be able to measure until probably four or five years from now because when we really see how this class shakes down,” coach Manny Diaz said Monday. “There is a lot of in-person connection that has been lost in that.”
Still, this is a weekend for No. 12 Miami to focus on recruiting, even if it has to do so a bit differently.
Instead of spending the weekend on the sidelines at Traz Powell Stadium and high schools across the country, Hurricanes coaches spent time this week with eyes glued to computer screens.
There are a few exceptions to the rules. Coaches can go watch their children play in person, which means quality control analyst Telly Lockette, whose son is a star offensive lineman at Miami Northwestern, can watch Northwestern play in person every weekend, which means getting a close-up look at Hurricanes commits Romello Brinson, Kahlil Brantley, Tim Burns Jr. and Kamren Kinchens.
Otherwise, everything is handled remotely, and this weekend is a chance to finally dive into some game tape. Coaches have barely seen anyone play in person this year, but they haven’t even really seen any film from most of their commits and targets in the Class of 2021 until this week.
Miami-Dade County Public Schools just began their seasons Oct. 22. Broward County Public Schools only began their seasons Thursday. Thirteen of the Hurricanes’ 22 commits didn’t open their senior seasons until the last weeks.
“What will happen this week is we have a chance to dive into some film,” Diaz said. “There hasn’t been any film to evaluate. If you’re recruiting a South Florida prospect — I mean, a couple of the private schools started earlier, but most public schools just played their first game last Friday, so there’s not a lot to watch. We make a big deal that we watch what they do on the field and not pay attention to rankings, and stars and just those types of things.”
Miami (5-1, 4-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) still has about three spots open in its 2021 recruiting class and a few obvious top targets, but the Hurricanes also expanded their board this week, making an offer to unranked cornerback Marvin Covington from Lake Ridge in Mansfield, Texas.
Miami also made offers to three underclassmen this week, and Diaz said part of the bye week will be spent finally diving into the 2022 and 2023 classes. The Hurricanes have two players committed in the Class of 2022 and one in the Class of 2023.
“We will try to really dig into the ‘22’s and ‘23s, and what’s available, but we’ve got to keep building that resume because, again, we can’t make any massive proclamations off of one game and guys are still playing their way into shape,” Diaz said. “You’re going to look at this football season just a little bit differently. I know its different for us and it’s certainly different for the high school prospects at every level.”
