Stranahan’s breakout LB recruit sets visits with Miami, 3 others. He wants to commit soon
Just six months ago, Omar Graham Jr. didn’t have a single scholarship offer.
He was in the middle of a breakout junior season for Fort Lauderdale Stranahan, where he averaged more than 10 tackles per game in a shortened season to start to grab college football coaches’ attention. In the final days of October, the FCS Youngstown State Penguins offered, then the FCS Yale Bulldogs followed on the first day of December. A little more than a month later, the Kansas Jayhawks did, then a few more Ivy League schools and the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, and then the floodgates were open.
Graham now has more than 40 offers after a whirlwind winter.
“It’s new to me, so I’m really just doing everything, building relationships,” the three-star outside linebacker said Wednesday, “then just trying to realize what’s real and what’s fake, and what’s the best option for me with schools.”
He doesn’t care how fast it has all happened: He’s ready to make his college choice relatively soon.
Graham has already narrowed his choices to six: The Miami Hurricanes, Florida State Seminoles, Auburn Tigers, Tennessee Volunteers, Indiana Hoosiers and Penn State Nittany Lions. He has already set up official visits with Miami, Florida State, Auburn and Penn State in June, and hopes to take unofficial visits to Tennessee and Indiana, then make an oral commitment in early July.
Graham is targeting July 2 as a decision date. As fast as it has all gone, Graham wants to be able to focus on his senior season “and just life,” he said.
There will be a lot of pressure on his visits in June. After a 14-month dead period, Graham has barely seen any of the schools he’s considering.
“Everyone’s equal,” said Graham, who’s now the No. 574 recruit in the Class of 2022, according to the 247Sports.com composite rankings. “I feel like I’ll know the difference once I take all my visits.”
The Hurricanes will get the first shot to make an impression on Graham once the dead period ends. He will be in Coral Gables on the first day of June for Miami’s cookout, then take his official visit with the Hurricanes on the first weekend of the month.
Graham has actually never been to Miami, he said. The Hurricanes just made him an offer in January, and he has been talking regularly with inside linebackers coach Jonathan Patke. He also had a Zoom meeting with coach Manny Diaz recently.
Miami is recruiting the 6-foot-1, 205-pound junior to play one of its traditional linebacker spots — both middle linebacker and weak-side linebacker — rather than striker. The competition at those spots remains wide open, with six players as feasible contenders to start at linebacker in 2021 — and only one linebacker on the roster is a former blue-chip recruit.
While Graham likes the idea of playing early, he said he doesn’t shy away from competition, anyway.
“I don’t buy too much into that because I like competition,” the linebacker said. “I would like to compete still, not just go in there and just start.”
After visiting the Hurricanes, Graham will take his official visit with the Seminoles the following weekend.
It’ll be a return trip to Tallahassee for Graham after he attended Florida State’s spring game April 11. After he checks out the two in-state schools, Graham will take his official visits with the Nittany Lions and Tigers the next two weekends.
On all those visits, he will be looking for the same thing.
“Atmosphere, just living there outside of football, then just being comfortable around my teammates or people outside of football. That’s mainly it,” Graham said. “Mainly just the atmosphere and just seeing myself there for three to four years.”
This story was originally published April 30, 2021 at 11:46 AM.
