As 4-star LB Bissainthe gets ready to commit, coaching carousel complicates decision
With just about 72 hours left until he makes his college choice, Wesley Bissainthe still didn’t know Wednesday what school he was going to pick and how could he? The Miami Hurricanes, long considered the front-runner in his recruitment by 247Sports.com Crystal Ball prognosticators, are in a state of limbo as they search for a new athletic director to potentially determine coach Manny Diaz’s fate. The Florida Gators, always a factor with blue-chip Floridians, just hired a new coach Sunday. In an unlikely twist, the Florida State Seminoles, who lost to an FCS team this year, are the picture of stability among the state’s Power 5 Conference schools.
There are also a pair of out-of-state teams — the Penn State Nittany Lions and West Virginia Mountaineers — in his final group and all five were scheduled to make trips to Miami this week to visit the four-star linebacker in his home before he makes his commitment Saturday.
“I’m pretty much going to have my decision all made up after these,” said Bissainthe, who’s the No. 20 linebacker in the Class of 2022, according to the 247Sports composite rankings. He said he’s leaning “a little bit, not really that much.”
“I won’t really know until after I do all these visits,” he added, “because I just want to be sure.”
College football’s regular season has been over for nearly a week and the coaching carousel still has not spinning, and it’s complicating Bissainthe’s decision-making with his planned commitment date — one he is sticking to — imminent.
Where Miami stands; Diaz factor
The Hurricanes still hold the majority of the Crystal Ball predictions for the Miami Central senior. They were one of the first teams to offer him a scholarship and there’s a strong recent history of Central’s best players staying home to play for Miami.
Bissainthe feels the same pull and was at Hard Rock Stadium for senior day last month.
“It’s an opportunity for me to put on for my hometown, build my name in my hometown,” the 6-foot-1, 200-pound athlete said. “It’s just a great opportunity, get great NIL.”
On Sunday, Diaz and the Hurricanes’ entire defensive staff made Bissainthe’s home their first stop in this newly opened contact period. Bissainthe said, among head coaches, Diaz and Florida State coach Mike Norvell are neck-and-neck in terms of who he talks to the most.
Diaz, he said, was open about the current situation when he came to visit during the weekend, which he appreciated. Still, the uncertainty is making his decision challenging.
“The visit was great, just speaking with the coaches again, just talking more, getting everything out,” Bissainthe said. “I’m still waiting to see what’s going to happen. That’s all I can give you right now. I don’t know what’s going to happen.
“It makes it real tough. I don’t know. We’ll see.”
There’s a real chance Miami’s coaching situation will remain unsettled into next week, but Bissainthe said his decision Saturday will be final, even though he can’t sign a national letter of intent until Dec. 15.
Where Florida State, Florida stand
The Gators sent coaches to visit Wednesday, and the Seminoles were scheduled for a visit Thursday. Both remain solidly in the running and Florida State is actually trending in the Crystal Ball after Bissainthe made the trip to Tallahassee in November to watch the Seminoles upset the Hurricanes. The first Florida State prediction came in a few days later.
Even though the Seminoles didn’t like a bowl game, Bissainthe was encouraged with the way they finished the year.
“They kept fighting,” Bissainthe said. “They had some tough ones, but, like I said, I’ve got a great relationship with Coach Norvell, [linebackers coach Chris] Marve.”
Even though the Gators have had major turnover this season, they sent two familiar faces to visit Bissainthe this week, as Florida linebackers coach Christian Robinson and Gators assistant director of player personnel Corey Bell made the trip down to South Florida.
New Gators coach Billy Napier hasn’t yet said who he will retain from the current staff, which also leaves Florida somewhat in limbo as the early signing period approaches.
Bissainthe said he was scheduled to talk on the phone with Napier sometime this week.
“I heard that he came from Louisiana,” Bissainthe said. “That’s all I really know.”
Why Penn State, West Virginia?
Penn State, in particular, remains in the picture, too. Bissainthe was actually wearing a Nittany Lions pullover Wednesday as he sat out practice with a minor injury after visiting with coaches Tuesday in his home.
Bissainthe pointed to his relationship with Penn State coach James Franklin and Nittany Lions running backs coach Ja’Juan Seider, a Belle Glade native, as a major reason they’re still in the running, even though he hasn’t been up to State College, Pennsylvania, since his official visit in June.
“They produce a lot of great linebackers. They’re ‘LBU,’” Bissainthe said. “I definitely wanted to keep them up in there.”
West Virginia has also been in the mix since the beginning. Bissainthe took his first official visit up to Morgantown in June, and said he likes Mountaineers coach Neal Brown and the defense they run.
“It’s just their defense,” Bissainthe said, “and I can play there.”
Overall, Bissainthe said he has a few major priorities: He needs to feel like he’s a fit in their scheme, he wants the chance to potentially play early and he wants to go somewhere he knows will feel “like home.”
“I see lots of guys go into the transfer portal and stuff. Wherever I go, I want to make sure I’m there. I don’t want to hop in the transfer portal,” he said. “I want to make sure it feels like home.”
