Why Wesley Bissainthe is Miami’s most important recruiting target. And how UM can get him
Manny Diaz didn’t need to get a special peek at Wesley Bissainthe on Sunday to know how important it is for the Miami Hurricanes to land the four-star outside linebacker.
Bissainthe has been a star at Miami Central since he was an underclassman and the Hurricanes have been recruiting him since 2019.
It didn’t hurt to get some extra face time with the local prospect Sunday, though.
Diaz was the only college football coach at Ives Estates Park on for an Under Armour All-America camp — he was allowed to attend because his son was competing there, too — and it let him get a precious in-person look at some of Florida’s top prospects for the first time in a year.
As he often does, Bissainthe stood out and the coach’s attendance stood out to the linebacker.
“His presence makes me want to go even harder,” Bissainthe said Sunday in Ives Estates. “I said, ‘What’s up?’ to him. He definitely hits me up a lot. He tells me he wants me to go out there a lot.”
Bissainthe is the No. 110 player in the country, the No. 8 outside linebacker and the top-ranked linebacker in South Florida, according to the 247Sports.com composite rankings for the Class of 2022, and it’s entirely possible he’s the most important player for the Hurricanes to land in the current recruiting cycle.
The Hurricanes’ issues at linebacker were exposed late in the season when they gave up a record number of rushing yards to the North Carolina Tar Heels in the regular season finale and Bissainthe is exactly the sort of player they need to land. The 6-foot-1, 195-pound junior can play in the box, but he’s also rangy and athletic enough to make plays in coverage, and roam sideline to sideline.
“They like that I’m a versatile player,” said Bissainthe, who added he likes to study Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Devin White. “That’s a key part to my game: covering, playing in the box — you name it.”
Will Miami get Wesley Bissainthe?
No one on the Hurricanes’ current roster has proven to be an entrenched, long-term starter at linebacker. Last season, the Hurricanes started four different players at their two linebacker spots and only one is an underclassman. The Hurricanes also only have one former four-star linebacker on the roster.
An open competition would help the Hurricanes land the local star.
“Playing time is very important to me. I look at that,” he said. “Playing is very, very important. As soon as I go in, I want to play.”
Bissainthe noted he sees an opportunity to play early at “all schools” he’s looking.
The list is expansive at this point and Bissainthe said he isn’t in a rush to cut it down until he takes some visits. With the dead period slated to finally end at the end of May, he has his first lined up for early June with the West Virginia Mountaineers. He also would like to visit the Michigan State Spartans, plus the Florida State Seminoles and, of course, the Hurricanes.
The Hurricanes are in an interesting spot with their recruitment. Former inside linebackers coach Travis Williams briefly headed up Bissainthe’s recruitment before he left to become the UCF Knights’ defensive coordinator — Bissainthe said he still talks to Williams — and now new outside linebackers coach Ishmael Aristide is taking over.
“I just spoke with him yesterday,” Bissainthe said. “He’s a pretty cool dude. He’s from down here, he’s a friendly guy. I’m looking forward to building my relationship with him.”
Aristide has some important ties to Bissainthe. His father, Wallace Aristide, is the principal at Miami Northwestern Senior High School and Central coach Roland Smith worked for him when he coached at Miami Northwestern.
The younger Aristide was also instrumental in luring four-star athletes Amari Daniels and Yulkeith Brown — a pair of Bissainthe’s teammates with the Rockets — to the Texas A&M Aggies when he worked as an analyst in College Station, Texas, last season.
“He was like, yeah, that’s his homies. They’re always going to be his homies,” Bissainthe said. “He said he made them feel like his sons and he wants to build that bond with me, too.”
Inside linebackers coach Jonathan Patke and cornerbacks coach DeMarcus Van Dyke are also involved in the recruitment, Bissainthe said.
The Hurricanes have more than just football to offer to Bissainthe, too. The junior actually attends classes at William H. Turner Technical Arts School, a magnet school next door to Central, and works on the school’s television production crew.
He wants to study broadcast journalism once he gets to college, and the University of Miami consistently ranks among the top schools for journalism and communications in the country.
Bissainthe’s two biggest priorities, he said, are somewhere he can play early and somewhere good for his preferred major.
He doesn’t have a specific timeline in place to make a decision, though. He just knows he wants to commit sometime during his senior season after he spends the spring, summer and fall taking visits.
“It’s where I feel at home,” Bissainthe said, “wherever I feel I can be the best at.”
This story was originally published March 12, 2021 at 12:00 AM.
