He plays linebacker, safety, DE and corner, and Miami thinks he can be a recruiting steal
Kaleb Spencer’s midseason Hudl highlight reel starts out inauspiciously enough for a three-star linebacker: He lines up as a middle linebacker, spies on the opposing quarterback and then chases him down and flattens him as he starts to scramble for a gasp-inducing sack.
It’s what happens across the next three-plus minutes that explains why the Miami Hurricanes — and at least two dozen other teams — want the 6-foot-3, 210-pound senior. On the next play, Spencer lines up as a stand-up edge rusher and blitzes the quarterback. Three plays later, he’s a cornerback in the slot, running all the way across the field to make a tackle on the opposite sideline. He goes and plays as a deep safety on the next play, and then returns a punt a few plays later.
“It’s a pleasure to coach,” said Charles Scott, who coaches Spencer at Life Christian Academy in South Chesterfield, Virginia. “Anywhere we’re lacking on the field, he can make up for that. ... He’s one of the most special players that I’ve ever coached.”
It’s why he drew comparisons to Arizona Cardinals linebacker Isaiah Simmons after he committed to the Oklahoma Sooners earlier this year — Oklahoma coach Brent Venables helped make Simmons into an All-American when he was the Clemson Tigers’ defensive coordinator — and it’s why Miami turned him into a priority target earlier this fall.
The Hurricanes have no one quite like him on the roster.
“He’s big enough to play middle linebacker, but he’s fast enough to play corner,” Scott said. “There’s really nothing he can’t do on the field.”
Although most recruiting services list him as a linebacker, Spencer will be more of a safety once he gets to Coral Gables, giving defensive coordinator Kevin Steele a bigger body to work with in the slot.
This year, Te’Cory Couch, 5-10 and 170 pounds, is getting most of the slot snaps with fellow defensive back Gilbert Frierson — the closest analog to Spencer on the roster as a 6-1, 210-pound former cornerback — seeing a surprisingly diminished role.
Spencer fits a new-age prototype, and Miami stole him away from the Sooners in just about a month.
Miami’s speedy recruitment of Spencer
The Hurricanes first made contact toward the end of September and immediately captured his attention.
Spencer orally committed to Oklahoma back in May and figured his recruitment was done. He liked Venables’ plan for him, and Oklahoma checked most of the boxes, except for one.
“His whole thing was he wanted to stay on the East Coast,” Scott said. “When Miami, which was one of his dream schools, showed interest it was kind of like, Let me see what it’s about, and it got real and it got real really fast. It was like, I really can go to one of my dream schools and it’s East Coast.”
Spencer made an under-the-radar trip to Hard Rock Stadium last month for the Hurricanes’ game against the North Carolina Tar Heels, and finally decided to flip to Miami and announce his decision Friday.
The Hurricanes’ presence in the Atlantic Coast Conference helped, too, because Miami makes frequent trips up to Virginia and North Carolina, making it easy for his family to watch him play in person.
“That was big for him,” Scott said.
Coach’s favorite Kaleb Spencer moment
The end result, the Hurricanes hope, is they found a steal in ACC country.
Even though he sits outside the top 600 in 247Sports composite rankings for the Class of 2023, Spencer boasts a resume of impressive production, as well as tall tales from his coach.
Life Christian actually opened its season in Fort Lauderdale with a win against Stranahan in August and Spencer at one point sought out Scott on the sideline right before a kick to tell him he would block it, and he did.
“He actually said, ‘Coach, I’m going to block this field goal,’ and then he went and did it,” Spencer said. “That was like a special moment for me, like, ‘I told you I got you and I did it.’
“I’ve coached a lot of football, I’ve seen a lot of guys. He’s not a three-star. He’s a four-and-a-half- or five-star.”
This story was originally published November 3, 2022 at 9:22 AM.
