An unexpected position change transformed his recruitment. Now Miami and more want Joseph
Edwin Joseph was just trying to make sure he had a way to get on the field for South Florida Express, the perennially loaded 7-on-7 program top recruits flock to every summer.
Ever since he started high school, Joseph strictly thought of himself as a wide receiver, but it’s not so easy to get on the field as a receiver for the Express. Buried on a depth chart filled with five-star wide receivers, Joseph decided to give it a shot in the secondary.
“I’m not going to lie,” said Joseph, now a three-star athlete in the 247Sports composite rankings for the Class of 2023. “It was a packed receiver corps and I just was like, Let me try to get some burn at DB.”
The short-term decision, it turns out, has yielded long-range results.
On Sept. 5, the Miami Hurricanes offered him a scholarship and told him they wanted him to play cornerback for them. On Sept. 6, the Florida State Seminoles and Louisville Cardinals did the same.
Suddenly, Joseph’s recruitment opened up in the way he had long hoped it would.
“It’s been eventful,” the Chaminade-Madonna senior said. “It wasn’t surprising that I received the offers. It was surprising like, Dang, I finally got it, because some of those schools — like Miami, FSU, Louisville — are schools that I wanted ever since I started playing, so once I got them I was very proud of myself.”
Joseph’s Miami offer, commitment timeline
The offer from the hometown Hurricanes clearly left an impression. Joseph, who still plays both wide receiver and defensive back for the Lions, quickly made the trip down to Coral Gables on Sept. 9 and the Hurricanes are now the favorite in his recruitment, according to 247’s Crystal Ball predictions. Miami was the offer he truly longed for and his father, he said, is a major Hurricanes fan.
“He was smiling the whole time,” Joseph said, “ear to ear.”
Although he won’t be able to get out to Miami Gardens for a game at Hard Rock Stadium until at least next month, Joseph is watching the Hurricanes closely and impressed with the early returns for coach Mario Cristobal, even after Miami’s loss to the Texas A&M Aggies on Saturday.
“Coach Cristobal is turning around the program. It’s all about pride in what you wear on your shirt; just keep working hard, grinding every day,” Joseph said. “Even though they took a loss to Texas A&M, I feel like they’re going to bounce back the rest of the season, turn around and show everybody that Miami’s back.”
Still, there are no plans to rush into a commitment, especially after he experienced how quickly and extremely recruiting can change in an instant.
The Penn State Nittany Lions and Utah Utes have been recruiting him for a long time as a wide receiver, and he still wants to give them a fair shake — he’ll officially visit Penn State this weekend — but he’s also working on setting up an official visit with the Cardinals.
“We’re going to keep setting that stuff up and possibly make a decision around December,” Joseph said. “It’s still stuff about just taking my time because stuff’s opening up for me right now.”
Keys to Joseph’s recruiting rise
Several of those coaches, he said, were in sporadic contact with Joseph before this summer, and then saw how well he was doing as a defensive back in 7-on-7 and had their interests piqued. They just wanted to wait to see how his performance would translate to the high school season and, in four games, he has already quelled any doubts.
Entering the weekend, Joseph led Chaminade-Madonna with 22 catches and 388 receiving yards, with five total touchdowns, and added 10 tackles, a pass defended and an interception as a defender. He’s well on pace to exceed the numbers he hit last year when he was a second-team All-Broward County selection by the Miami Herald.
There are some hidden factors in this breakout season, too. Joseph is clearly bigger than he was a year ago — he said he’s up to about 6-foot-2 now, rather than the 6-foot, 178 pounds he’s listed at — and he was going through “growing pains” last year, he said, as he tried to get used to his stretching body.
This year, he and some teammates have started going to see a chiropractor in Fort Lauderdale twice a week, getting alignments and treatment because they’re still teenager, still growing and figuring out how to fit into their ever-changing bodies.
“He said I should still have a growth spurt coming before college,” Joseph said.
With his ball skills from his time playing offense and an increasingly tantalizing frame, Joseph is poised to be a potential steal for whoever lands his commitment — whether it’s as a receiver or a defensive back, and he’s open to either.
“I wouldn’t really mind going to college for DB or offense,” Joseph said. “It’s really about opportunities. What’s the best opportunity, for me to play defensive back here or receiver over there? It doesn’t really matter to me.”
