Four-star CB Chris Graves moves up commitment after visiting Miami three times in 13 days
Chris Graves made a surprise appearance at the Miami Hurricanes’ Manny Diaz Football Camp on Sunday. After two visits in the first week after the dead period ended June 1, the four-star cornerback decided to take a third trip to Coral Gables just a week after he finished up his Miami official visit.
This time, Graves was on campus to get some individualized attention from DeMarcus Van Dyke and Travaris Robinson. The two assistant coaches put Graves through a workout inside the Carol Soffer Indoor Practice Facility, then Graves hung around to spend some time with some of the Hurricanes he has gotten to know well this month.
“I’ve got a good relationship with the players, the environment,” the Fort Myers Bishop Verot senior said Sunday. “I mess with the players.”
With three trips to Miami in the books, Graves has two more visits lined up for the rest of this month and then will come his commitment. After originally planning to wait until next year to make a decision, Graves now wants to commit in July.
His original hope was to land an invitation to an All-American game and make a commitment then, but “it’s taking too long” to get an invitation, Graves joked.
Still, he is one of the fastest-rising prospects in the country, now a top-300 player in the 247Sports.com composite rankings for the Class of 2022 after being unranked as recently as February. The Hurricanes were the first team from a Power 5 conference to offer him a scholarship in January and now he claims holds 30 offers, with the LSU Tigers and South Carolina Gamecocks ready to host him for official visits the next two weekends after his breakout junior season.
Graves plays both wide receiver and cornerback for Bishop Verot — and was more productive as a receiver, with 27 catches for 500 yards and four touchdowns, and one lost fumble — but schools have now locked in on him as a defensive back.
Right now, Miami is benefiting from its proximity to Graves, who can make the drive to campus in less than three hours, and its two coaches in the secondary.
Robinson initially stuck out to Graves. The defensive backs coach spent the past five years and South Carolina and helped turn Carolina Panthers cornerback Jaycee Horn into a first-round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft — Graves said Horn is his favorite corner.
Van Dyke now is the one Graves has a particularly tight bond with. The cornerbacks coach is only about 15 years older than Graves and Graves said, “I kind of see him like a big brother.”
“I’m goofy. I don’t like to be serious all the time, so he’s goofy with me,” Graves said. “We just joke around all the time.”
Graves’ proximity to campus helped the Hurricanes bring him in for their “First Day Out” cookout June 1, then again for his first official visit from June 5-7. Cornerback Malik Curtis, who played in high school with Graves last year, hosted Graves on the visit and took him paintballing with quarterback Jake Garcia, safety James Williams and a host of other teammates.
Graves singled out Garcia and Williams as two of the players he has already gotten close with. After he wrapped up his workout Sunday, Graves stuck around to watch some 7-on-7 games with Curtis — North Fort Myers was at the camp — and sat with a large group of players, including Garcia and Williams, during a lunch break.
Said Graves: “They’ve been trying to get me here.”
