James Williams’ injury status, recruiting woes and more coming off Miami’s loss to FSU
The Miami Hurricanes could be missing one of their best players Saturday when they host the Virginia Tech Hokies in Miami Gardens.
James Williams, who left the Hurricanes’ 31-28 loss to the Florida State Seminoles on Saturday with a groin injury in the second quarter, is dealing with “a soft-tissue injury,” Manny Diaz said, and his status is still in question heading into Miami’s final game at Hard Rock Stadium in 2021.
“He was pretty stiff and sore yesterday,” the coach said. “We’ll kind of see how it progresses throughout the week and if it loosens up, he’ll be good for Saturday.”
The 6-foot-5, 224-pound safety, who was limited in practice last week by an apparent arm injury, initially tried to play through his groin injury Saturday before exiting the game before halftime. He tried to return in the second half and stayed on the sidelines in uniform after receiving treatment, but was never able to get on the field for the second half at Doak Campbell Stadium.
With Williams sidelined, Avantae Williams played nearly every second-half snap opposite fellow safety Kamren Kinchens. All three are freshmen, playing in their first seasons of college football.
James Williams, who was the No. 1 safety recruit in the 247Sports.com composite rankings for the Class of 2021, has played in all 10 games this season and started the last seven. The defensive back has 31 tackles — 20 solo — with a half tackle for loss, two passes defended and two interceptions, including a crucial fourth-quarter pick in Miami’s upset of the then-No. 17 Pittsburgh Panthers last month.
Recruiting still stagnant for Miami
Recruitments are seldom decided by the outcome of one game, but the Hurricanes’ annual clash with the Seminoles always matters at least somewhat in the state’s recruiting landscape.
Another loss was a blow to Diaz’s job security and a boost to Florida State coach Mike Norvell’s. The Seminoles already had momentum on the recruiting trail, with the No. 13 class in the country and a signature win will only help them hang onto their haul. The Hurricanes’ class sits at No. 60 and there are no obvious indications any of South Florida’s elite prospects will decide to stay home.
It’s only one morsel, but there was a slight indication of how things have shifted in the last few days: There’s a new Crystal Ball on 247Sports predicting Miami Central linebacker Wesley Bissainthe, a four-star prospect and the Hurricanes’ best shot at adding a top-200 recruit before, will wind up in Tallahassee, albeit with low confidence from the recruiting reporter who made the pick.
It’s just the latest such development for a major Miami target, too. In the first two weeks of November, additional Crystal Balls have come in predicting blue-chip defensive linemen Shemar Stewart and Anthony Lucas to the Texas A&M Aggies, five-star cornerback Jaheim Singletary to the Georgia Bulldogs and four-star linebacker DeMario Tolan to Florida State.
The Hurricanes still have not added a new commitment since August and have only eight players committed in their Class of 2022. Still, Diaz insists there’s no “panic,” even with the early signing period a month away.
“We’re not in any sense of panic here,” Diaz said. “The quality of the guys we have are really strong.”
Five of Miami’s eight commits are four-star prospects, although only one is a top-100 recruit and none are from South Florida. Bissainthe and Stewart, a five-star prospect from Monsignor Pace, both remain in play, as do four-star Dillard defensive lineman Nyjalik Kelly, four-star Plantation American Heritage cornerback Earl Little Jr. and four-star St. Thomas Aquinas interior lineman Julian Armella as relative long shots.
Four-star American Heritage defensive lineman Marvin Jones Jr., however, released a top five Sunday without the Hurricanes in it. It’s another big regional miss for Miami, which has already let four-star Chaminade-Madonna edge rusher Kenyatta Jackson, and four-star cornerbacks Trevell Mullen and Jacolby Spells orally commit to out-of-state programs.
Technically, the Hurricanes can still finish strong because of the number of uncommitted prospects in state, but the current situation is grim, even if the transfer portal will help fill some gaps.
“We were not comfortable being at a big number coming out of the summer,” Diaz said. “There’s obviously some that we missed out on that we wish we could’ve closed on, but that’s always going to happen. We also knew there were some that we were going to have to run the final lap with and, as I mentioned before, that’s no different than we did last year.
Charleston Rambo chases Miami history
With six catches for 95 yards Saturday, wide receiver Charleston Rambo moved up to fifth on Miami’s all-time single-season receiving yards list with 955 yards on the season. He’s on pace to become the Hurricanes’ first 1,000-yard receiver since 2013 on Saturday and, if he plays in a bowl game, he’s still on pace to pass Allen Hurns for the most receiving yards in a single season in Miami history.
Hurns finished the 2013 season with 1,162 yards. Rambo, who transferred from the Oklahoma Sooners in January, is on pace 1,241.5 if he plays 13 games and 1,146 if he plays 12, and he’s mostly done it while playing with freshman quarterback Tyler Van Dyke.
“When you’re a young quarterback making all these first-time starts and things, to have a guy with that experience and that consistency — there’s just something to it,” offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee said. “At quarterback, you’ve got a lot of confidence when you throw to a guy like that and I think you see that when Tyler throws it his way.”
