4-star OL Tripp closes recruitment after UM pledge: ‘I’m not with all that decommitting’
Antonio Tripp always thought they idea of playing for the Miami Hurricanes would be cool — he did, after all, grow up in Baltimore, where Ray Lewis and Ed Reed owned the city throughout his childhood — but it still it “was unusual” to see Miami coaches at McDonogh in Owings Mills, Maryland, for a recruiting visit in January, Hakeem Sule said.
“It had been awhile,” the Eagles coach said.
It did a couple things and ultimately culminated: It showed Tripp just how badly he was wanted, it helped the new coaching staff start to expand its recruiting footprint and it provided a reminder of just how relentless coach Mario Cristobal is going to be about recruiting offensive lineman.
Ultimately, it also got Tripp, a four-star interior lineman, to orally commit to Miami on Tuesday, on the heels of a weekend visit to Coral Gables to watch the Hurricanes’ first spring practice of the Cristobal era.
“It was like, What else am I waiting for?” said Tripp, who’s the No. 19 interior offensive lineman in the 247Sports.com composite rankings for the Class of 2023. “I wanted to commit right now, build my class up and let’s get this thing rolling.”
He’s only the third player to commit to Miami’s 2023 recruiting class — and the first blue-chip prospect — and he doubled down on his commitment to trying to build up the group. In the tweet announcing his commitment, Tripp wrote he’s “171% committed,” and even though the number was sort of random the sentiment isn’t. He said he doesn’t plan to take other visits.
With more than nine months to go until he can sign a national letter of intent, Tripp insists he won’t waver.
“I’m a Cane. I’m not with all that decommitting stuff, so I’m fully committed,” he said. “I’m committed to just building my class up and all that, so that’s what my main focus is on. My main focus is just to have fun in my final high school season and just get this Canes ‘23 class rolling.”
It gives Cristobal a good point to start from the 2023 recruiting cycle. Offensive lineman are always hard to come by for the Hurricanes, and Tripp, 6-foot-3 and 300 pounds, is one of the best in the country, with more than a dozen offers from teams like the Michigan Wolverines, Michigan State Spartans and Penn State Nittany Lions. He played all five spots on McDonogh’s offensive line last year, primarily tackle and guard, and Sule raves about his maturity and intelligence.
Hurricanes offensive line coach Alex Mirabal, Tripp said, has told prospect he views him as an interior lineman.
“I feel like I can bring a lot of versatility to this Hurricanes offensive line,” Tripp said.
Why Miami for Antonio Tripp?
Cristobal and Co. were able to sell Tripp on their vision off one multiple-day visit. He got into Miami on March 12, toured the campus and facilities March 13, then watched the Hurricanes practice last Monday before heading back up to Maryland on Tuesday.
After he made his decision, he ran through a long list of why he decided to commit to Miami so quickly.
There’s the school itself: “The whole trip was just insane,” Tripp said. “Campus is beautiful. It might be the best I’ve seen.”
There’s Mirabal, whom he watched run practice last Monday: “He calls foul on someone, but later on in practice he’s going to say why he did it,” Tripp said.
He was impressed by Aaron Feld, the new strength and conditioning coordinator: “He’s really dedicated to the guys,” Tripp said.
He also just like the camaraderie he saw around the Hurricanes in this new era: “They’re really close knith,” Tripp said. “If a guy beats you, you get him credit.”
Above all else, there’s Cristobal, whose plan he’s fully buying into: “He has a vision for Miami and I can see the vision. I can see what he wants to do at Miami and how he wants to develop the program, the plans he has for where it can go,” Tripp said. “This is definitely a team, I can say, in the next five years will win the national championship, I can say with confidence.”
How Mario Cristobal factored in
After practice wrapped up last Monday, Cristobal quickly left Greentree Practice Fields to give the eulogy at his mother’s funeral. He then headed back to campus to finish up his work, including a final conversation with Tripp before the lineman headed back home.
Although Cristobal never tried to recruit him to the Oregon Ducks, Tripp always admired Cristobal for the way he kept Oregon rolling as a perennial power. He also liked Cristobal’s background as an offensive lineman and saw last week how it manifests on practice field, where Cristobal can hop in for instruction with Tripp’s future position group.
In the past few weeks, Tripp learned to love Cristobal’s story, too, and the way it informs his passion.
“He graduated from Miami, won a championship at Miami,” Tripp said. “It’s cool to know he’s back in his city, born and raised here.”
When Tripp and his mother sat down in Cristobal’s office last Monday, “the sun was still out,” Tripp said.
“And by the time we were done,” he said, “it was really dark outside.”
They talked in the office for close to two hours, Tripp said — his mother, he joked, is “a talker, too” — and it gave the junior the last push he needed to make his decision.
A few days earlier, Tripp had visited the South Carolina Gamecocks and liked it. His three days in South Florida were on a different level, though, and it was because of the passion he could feel.
“What really kicked it off was Mirabal and Cristobal coming back to their home city of Miami,” he said. “That stood out for me and Coach Cristobal saying he wants to change Miami, bring Miami back.”
