2021 Chaminade-Madonna RB Thad Franklin signed with Miami today. Franklin is Miami's 5th signee of the day.
The 6-0 225 pounder is currently a consensus 4-star prospect in the national rankings. According to the 247Sports Composite Ranking, he is the #242 player nationally in 2021, the #11 RB in the country, and the #34 player in the Sunshine State.
Recruiting Story
Thad Franklin first committed to Miami back in October of 2018 during his sophomore year of high school under head coach Mark Richt and running backs coach Thomas Brown. Franklin remained committed for over a year until December 9th, 2019; however, his decommitment did not last long as he once again committed to Miami on February 11th, 2020 over offers from Georgia, Ohio State, Auburn, and Texas A&M among others.
Evaluation
On film, you can see that Miami easily has a high 4-star RB on their hands here. Franklin has quality burst through the line of scrimmage to rip through arm tackles and attack the second level of a defense. Once he gets a head of steam, Franklin is tough to bring down and has a great physical build for a RB at 6’0” 215. While Franklin is not a true burner, he’s very much an angular runner with build-up speed to get to the edge or outrace a DB in the open field. He shows an effective jump cut to defeat contain and swiftly run away from the flow of the defense. I also love how decisive he is with his cuts and he doesn’t dance around in the backfield; in other words, he gets north-south very quickly. Showed improvement from sophomore year onward in running a little lower to the ground and looked more like a natural running back.
Franklin ran for 795 yards on just 91 carries so far this season as a senior, an average of 8.7 yards per carry. He also has four touchdowns on the year.
The Team
Thad Franklin becomes the 5th running back on the current roster. However, Cam’Ron Harris is eligible for the draft and could leave early. Also, Robert Burns just finished his 4th year at Miami and is sitting behind two true freshmen on the depth chart, so he is a potential transfer candidate. Should both Harris and Burns leave, Franklin would arrive on campus in the summer as the 3rd running back on the depth chart and in prime position to make an impact as a freshman.
Redshirt Probability: 2/10
Miami has not redshirted a true freshman running back since 2017 when Robert Burns received a redshirt. That redshirt was at least partially due to lingering injuries from his time in high school. Franklin also brings a different skillset to the table than a Chaney or a Knighton being a bigger, more physical back. It is difficult to see a scenario where Franklin does not have some role in 2021.
The 6-0 225 pounder is currently a consensus 4-star prospect in the national rankings. According to the 247Sports Composite Ranking, he is the #242 player nationally in 2021, the #11 RB in the country, and the #34 player in the Sunshine State.
Recruiting Story
Thad Franklin first committed to Miami back in October of 2018 during his sophomore year of high school under head coach Mark Richt and running backs coach Thomas Brown. Franklin remained committed for over a year until December 9th, 2019; however, his decommitment did not last long as he once again committed to Miami on February 11th, 2020 over offers from Georgia, Ohio State, Auburn, and Texas A&M among others.
Evaluation
On film, you can see that Miami easily has a high 4-star RB on their hands here. Franklin has quality burst through the line of scrimmage to rip through arm tackles and attack the second level of a defense. Once he gets a head of steam, Franklin is tough to bring down and has a great physical build for a RB at 6’0” 215. While Franklin is not a true burner, he’s very much an angular runner with build-up speed to get to the edge or outrace a DB in the open field. He shows an effective jump cut to defeat contain and swiftly run away from the flow of the defense. I also love how decisive he is with his cuts and he doesn’t dance around in the backfield; in other words, he gets north-south very quickly. Showed improvement from sophomore year onward in running a little lower to the ground and looked more like a natural running back.
Franklin ran for 795 yards on just 91 carries so far this season as a senior, an average of 8.7 yards per carry. He also has four touchdowns on the year.
The Team
Thad Franklin becomes the 5th running back on the current roster. However, Cam’Ron Harris is eligible for the draft and could leave early. Also, Robert Burns just finished his 4th year at Miami and is sitting behind two true freshmen on the depth chart, so he is a potential transfer candidate. Should both Harris and Burns leave, Franklin would arrive on campus in the summer as the 3rd running back on the depth chart and in prime position to make an impact as a freshman.
Redshirt Probability: 2/10
Miami has not redshirted a true freshman running back since 2017 when Robert Burns received a redshirt. That redshirt was at least partially due to lingering injuries from his time in high school. Franklin also brings a different skillset to the table than a Chaney or a Knighton being a bigger, more physical back. It is difficult to see a scenario where Franklin does not have some role in 2021.
