Edison’s Joseph weighs in on Miami, Clemson and how new coaches changed his recruitment
Nathaniel Joseph has been orally committed to the Clemson Tigers for more than nine months, but it hasn’t stopped the Miami Hurricanes and their new coaching staff from pulling out all the stops to keep him from leaving Miami-Dade County.
There’s good reason for the Hurricanes’ optimism, too. As Joseph tells it, he always figured he’d wind up playing for Miami, and if Mario Cristobal and Co. had been in Coral Gables a little bit earlier he probably wouldn’t have committed to Clemson so quickly.
“When I got in the whole recruitment process Miami wasn’t recruiting me and everything. They made it easy for me to get out and leave,” the 5-foot-8, 170-pound Edison star said. “I always tell everybody, If Miami would’ve been recruiting me how this staff is recruiting me from the jump, I would’ve been going to Miami.
“Since eighth grade, since I got into football before I got into high school football, I always thought I was going to Miami.”
His feelings about the Hurricanes have mostly turned Joseph’s recruitment into a two-team battle. He has good reason to stick with the Tigers, who have been the class of the Atlantic Coast Conference for close to a decade and put receivers in the NFL as well as anyone, and he has reason to want to stay close to home and come to Miami.
The Hurricanes know this and it’s why he was their No. 1 priority at the 7-on-7 tournament at their Mario Cristobal Football Camp on Saturday at Greentree Practice Fields. Even as Miami juggled half a dozen official visitors and more than a dozen other high school teams, offensive coordinator Josh Gattis and director of high school relations Roland Smith both kept a close eye on Joseph as he played with his Red Raiders in pool play, hauling in multiple field-stretching touchdowns, even as he battled double teams throughout the day.
It was a full display of why he’s a four-star wide receiver and the No. 105 overall prospect in the 247Sports.com composite rankings for the Class of 2023.
“They’ve just been doing their job, recruiting me to the best of their ability,” said Joseph, who has twice been a first-team all-Dade County selection by the Miami Herald. “Even though I’m committed to Clemson, they’re still determined and still recruiting me. They show the love that the past staff never showed.”
Former coach Manny Diaz’s three-year tenure was marred by inconsistent recruiting and, even though he had good relationships at most South Florida high schools, he never had a strong relationship with Edison coach Luther Campbell — better known as Uncle Luke. After the Hurricanes offered him a scholarship in 2020, Joseph barely heard from the local team again until Cristobal replaced Diaz late last year.
It completely changed the complexion of Joseph’s recruitment.
“I never got a call from Coach Diaz, I never got a call from the receivers coach, nobody ever picked up the phone to talk to me and it was just no communication from Miami, like you wouldn’t even think Miami was down there, so they made it real easy for you to get away,” Joseph said. “This staff — they’re making it hard for you to want to leave, especially when you grew up a Miami fan and you grew up in a whole family that loved Miami, watching Miami, screaming at the TV. They make it hard for you to be like, Man, I want to go somewhere else.”
Still, Joseph remains committed to the Tigers and took an official visit up to Clemson, South Carolina, during the weekend of June 3. He also doesn’t have any other official visits scheduled, hewing to Tigers coach Dabo Swinney’s policy discouraging committed recruits from visiting elsewhere.
It won’t stop the Hurricanes from trying, though, and Joseph is receptive to the new staff, especially because of the number of coaches from Miami, including Cristobal, quarterbacks coach Frank Ponce, running backs coach Kevin Smith, offensive line coach Alex Mirabal and even Smith, who was the coach at Miami Central before returning to his alma mater in the winter.
“Everything’s high energy. I love the high energy and they understand us because most of them are down here. They can understand the Miami culture and the Miami swag,” Joseph said. “When you go anywhere else, they think you’re crazy, so that’s good to have people on the staff that understand us ... and just understand the kids that’s in the area and understand the whole Miami thing, so that’s just great.”
