Podcast: Mario Cristobal might have nailed his Miami transition class. That’s a big deal
Remember when the Miami Hurricanes’ Class of 2022 ranked outside the top 80, well behind the Florida State Seminoles and Florida Gators?
It really wasn’t so long ago. When Mario Cristobal took over as coach less than two months ago, Miami was trending toward one of its worst recruiting classes ever, with virtually no South Floridians in the fold and barely enough commits to require two hands to count.
By the end of the early signing period, the Hurricanes were rising toward respectability. Now the class is full-blown good after jumping up to No. 15 on national signing day, according to 247Sports.com’s rankings.
On a new episode of the Eye on the U podcast, David Wilson and Susan Miller Degnan, the Miami Herald’s Hurricanes beat writer, recap the good, the bad and the ugly for Miami on signing day, and the good far outweighs the bad.
The Hurricanes added All-American running back TreVonte’ Citizen on Wednesday, beefed up their trenches and finished the day with nine four-star recruits committed. Cristobal bested Florida coach Billy Napier and Florida State coach Mike Norvell, and put together one of the best transition classes of the early-signing-period era.
There was some bad, though. Miami missed out on five-star defensive lineman Shemar Stewart and three-star edge rusher R Mason Thomas, letting two of South Florida’s best defensive ends leave the state for the Texas A&M Aggies and Oklahoma Sooners, respectively.
There was even some ugly. Last week, the Hurricanes seemed to be in great shape to lure four-star interior lineman Dave Iuli to Coral Gables from Puyallup in Washington, but he wound up going with the Oregon Ducks, Cristobal’s old team, on signing day.
As always, thanks for listening and please continue to rate, review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your shows. We’ll be back next week to discuss the addition of defensive coordinator Kevin Steele and a bevvy of other expected coaching hires.
