Would no season help or hurt Miami Hurricanes in recruiting? Expert weighs in
A six-pack of Miami Hurricanes notes on a Monday, with the college football season at risk:
▪ With the Big 10 reportedly deciding to cancel its football season,according to the Detroit Free Press, the other Power 5 conferences — including the Atlantic Coast Conference — are expected to make decisions in the next few days. (Update: The Big 10 is denying that Detroit Press report that they have voted to cancel their season.)
The Hurricanes have had an exceptional offseason from a recruiting standpoint, assembling a class of nonbinding commitments that is ranked eighth nationally by 247 Sports. UM’s class includes two five-star players (safety James Williams and defensive lineman Leonard Taylor) and nine four-star players.
But if UM’s season is delayed or canceled, would that end up helping or hurting UM in recruiting?
A case could be made both ways. Perhaps more local players would be inclined to remain in South Florida if they cannot take official visits elsewhere because of the COVID-19 pandemic. That seems to be the case with the recent commitment of top local players Williams, Taylor, Brashard Smith, Kamren Kinchens and Jabari Ishmael.
But as Miami Palmetto coach Mike Monasco told me: “The product on the field is the biggest determining factor for a lot of top recruits. They want to see Miami do well.”
So the Canes probably need to play — and thrive — to convince some on-the-bubble prospects.
If UM can somehow hold onto its offensive recruits without seeing a single play of coordinator Rhett Lashlee’s new offense at Miami, that would be a testament to Lashlee, the other UM assistants involved in their recruiting, and chief of staff Ed Reed, who has made a big difference in recruiting, according to multiple players.
I asked South Florida-based recruiting expert Larry Blustein whether UM stands to lose or gain more by the season being played or the season being delayed until after signing days in mid-December and early February, or the season not being played at all.
“Not playing a season would hurt UM, because you need to take the taste of that damn 14-0 loss to Louisiana Tech out of your head and the [poor] finish,” he said. “There’s only [two] guys outside of the state they have committed [Texas-based tight end Elija Arroyo and Georgia defensive end Thomas Davis].
“It’s imperative they play this season because everyone will see D’Eriq King and Quincy Roche, and it will get more to come and reinforce kids who have committed.”
Not to mention seeing UM’s new spread offense under Lashlee.
Blustein said UM is assembling a “great class,” and “if the Hurricanes play this season and do real well, that could turn the corner for this program. When you start getting kids in the trenches, then you’ve turned the corner, on the offensive and defensive lines. They don’t have those yet.”
But Blustein said UM can “stand toe-to-toe with some of top programs in college football” with their batch of safety commitments and some of their skill commitment players.
Another person very much involved in South Florida recruiting (not Blustein) said UM’s ability to hold onto a few of its top recruits ultimately could come down to something nobody likes to discuss publicly:
Another Power 5 team getting to those players with illegal cash payments to snag them away from UM. Two former UM coaches have said privately that illegal payments, particularly from some Southeastern Conference schools, badly damaged the Canes in recruiting during the past decade. And there’s no reason to believe those have stopped.
Blustein, incidentally, offered some cogent thoughts on on what should happen with high school football in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, which has been delayed:
“They should have a universal start date of Jan. 1. Then end it the beginning of March, no playoffs, just go through a nine-game or 10-game season. If you take it longer than March, you will get kids who are committed who won’t play.”
Blustein also could make a case for an October start. “You don’t have to have the playoffs. Maybe give them leeway at the end of the season to play a bowl game. Four, five weeks of playoffs is too grueling [in a pandemic].
“If you are going to start in the fall, give it another month or so and make sure you’re going to have a plan. You can’t travel together in a bus so it will have to be like Little League. People will have to come in your vehicle to games. To travel together would be like going to a chiropractor to get adjusted and then jumping around. Come to games in your car like Little League, have parents wash uniforms individually.
“The longer you give [before the season starts], the more time you have to figure out what’s going on [with COVID-19] and potential new treatments. The onus is on the kids. If you start fooling around with your buddies, you can give it to the rest of your team.”
▪ UM on Sunday lost out on Miami Palmetto four-star cornerback Jason Marshall, who committed to UF.
But of the five high-end Palmetto prospects, Miami has commitments from three: defensive lineman Taylor, receiver Smith and four-star defensive tackle Savion Collins (whose commitment is believed to be stronger than it was a couple of weeks ago).
UM awaits a decision from four-star safety Corey Collier, who will pick among UM, UF and LSU at 3 p.m. Monday. [UPDATE: Collier committed to UF on Monday.]
The disparity in how the top two recruiting sites rate Taylor is stunning. 247Sports rates him the No. 3 defensive tackle and 27th player overall in 2021. Rivals rates him the 12th tackle and 116th-best player overall.
Mike Farrell, Rivals’ national recruiting director, said: “Back in May, I did Rankings Review and agreed with Taylor’s ranking, but now that we’ve seen him again since then and have been able to compare him to some other defensive tackles in this class, he’s a bit undervalued. Is he a top-10 prospect nationally? I don’t see that, but a big bump could be coming when we release rankings for 2021 in a couple of weeks.”
▪ UM will practice for a fourth consecutive day on Monday, while the ACC sorts out whether to play this season.
And a UM player conveyed this to a parent: Tight end Brevin Jordan has been very impressive early on in terms of showing vocal leadership. That’s an evolution for him that was welcomed, that player conveyed.
There was some thought that Jordan might have followed Greg Rousseau in opting out, but Jordan said publicly on Twitter that he fully intends to play. That, of course, could change if college football goes to a spring schedule.
One scout said he could he see Jordan going anywhere from the second to fourth rounds in next year’s NFL Draft.
▪ One UM player conveyed that this is UM’s best freshman class in awhile and they will make a significant impact if there’s a season. And that extends well beyond running back Jaylon Knighton, whose impressive spring work has carried over to the first three spring practices….
Freshman linebacker Tirek Austin-Cave is getting work at striker, where he will compete with Gilbert Frierson and Keontra Smith.
▪ With Rousseau opting out, Roche has been trying to take command of the defensive line room.
“It’s no different than what I did at Temple, a guy that has to take control of the room,” Roche said. “There’s a lot of talent in the room. We were so deep at defensive end. It’s next man up. So Jahfari [Harvey], JP [Jaelan Phillips], Quentin [Williams], Cam [Williams], we have a lot of guys in that room that can play football. I’m excited about this defensive line and still think we can do some big things.”
Roche likes what he has seen in Harvey, the former Vero Beach standout who redshirted last season. “Jahfari, he’s real athletic, real fast,” Roche said. “Jason Blissett, it’s physicality [that stands out]. Both are young guys. Being in the fire, in a game will only make them better. We have a lot of depth on this team at d-tackle and defensive end.”
▪ Quick stuff: UM has put linebacker Ryan Ragone on scholarship; he had eight tackles in nine games last season. He follows fullback Michael Parrott and receiver Marshall Few as walk-ons who were awarded scholarships…
New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick always has shown a liking for UM developmental projects, from Braxton Berrios to Tyler Gauthier and others. So it was no surprise that Belichick traded a seventh-round pick to Detroit on Sunday for former Hurricanes cornerback Michael Jackson, who will join undrafted rookie receiver Jeff Thomas on the Patriots’ training camp roster.
This story was originally published August 10, 2020 at 1:04 PM.
