Mario Cristobal continues to rewrite the recruiting rules.
The Canes went into New Iberia, Louisiana- an area dominated by LSU- and beat out the Tigers for CB Jaboree Antoine. The 6’1, 170-pound Antoine is the 2nd-ranked player in Louisiana, the 8th-ranked CB in the nation and the 71st overall player.
Antoine, who was previously committed to LSU, also plays QB and competes in the 300M hurdles, long jump and triple jump.
Antoine is the 19th commitment of the 2025 class, joining QB Luke Nickel, RB Girard Pringle, WR Daylyn Upshaw, TE Brock Schott, TE Luka Gilbert, OT Jaden Wilkerson, OT Demetrius Campbell, OG Max Buchanan, OG TK Muex, C SJ Alofaituli, DE Herbert Scroggins, LB Gavin Nix, LB Elijah Melendez, LB Ezekiel Marcelin, S Hylton Stubbs, DB Amari Wallace, DB Tim Merritt and CB Chris Ewald.
Being the first offer they were on him before anyone and have been building a relationship. Recruiting is all about relentless effort and NIL of course. But loyalty and relationships still matter when all thing$ are equal.
Mario and Guidry were here last year and our DB recruiting was not nearly as impactful as this year.
Chevis is a relatable guy . He came in and all of a sudden we are landing top-100 caliber dudes ? Sure Mario is a big part of this but Mario is entering his third year here. Jackson absolutely has a lot to do with it, considering that kids are vibing with him and connecting with him.
Take a dude like Addae who had the polar opposite effect even with Mario's recruiting it didn't matter. Relationships matter even in the NIL era and having Jackson is ONE of the KEY factors putting us over the hump in these late battles.
I can understand why Baker took the LSU job ($$$, going home, more prominence) but you wonder if he is already regretting it.
LSU has been struggling recruiting DTs in the portal and HS. They lost multiple portal targets to Oregon, Miami, Ole Miss. A&M, Texas, Michigan St, Louisville and even Wisconsin. The guy they signed from Grand Valley state is listed very generously at 6’3 285 and was even called a warm body by an LSU writer.
High school recruiting DL recruiting isn’t going much better.
In 21, they signed Maason Smith. Left for the draft already.
In 22 they signed one 3 star DT who has already transferred to Oregon St.
In 23 they signed none.
In 24 they signed a 3 star kid that is listed at 6’1 275
In 25 so far have 3 star Brandon Brown (6’1 280) from Melbourne, FLA that none of Big 3 recruited and 3 star Zion Williams (6’4 295) from Texas who looks like a decent prospect but nowhere near a day 1 guy.
That DL the next couple of years at least is looking like a Diaz/Baker special from 2019-2020.
I guess the issue some of us had was that Simmons started off by stating that LSU isn’t going to give up and this is a “verbal commitment”. All of which is true, but I sincerely hope Simmons said the same thing when DJ committed to LSU because the situations are mirror images in many ways. Simmons probably could have waited until later in his comments to throw cold water on the commitment, but he didn’t which feels like he was more interested in catering to the folks at LSU than letting UM and its fans enjoy the moment.
Just my 2 cents as to why I was thought Simmons did not treat us well. Admittedly I did not watch the DJ commitment analysis so I can’t speak to whether Simmons said the same things in reverse order.
247 didn't even have a national article on his commitment from what I could see. Had like three on Jarquez Carter but none on Jaboree.
Loy posted an article about some 26 three star that has us a Norte Dame as the favorites. I post in the comments.
"Missed the link on your "Antoine commits to Miami" article. Can you please drop here? It's a Top 100 guy. Figured there would be some really solid content from you and other national mods on why he chose Miami over LSU and FSU."
247 didn't even have a national article on his commitment from what I could see. Had like three on Jarquez Carter but none on Jaboree.
Loy posted an article about some 26 three star that has us a Norte Dame as the favorites. I post in the comments.
"Missed the link on your "Antoine commits to Miami" article. Can you please drop here? It's a Top 100 guy. Figured there would be some really solid content from you and other national mods on why he chose Miami over LSU and FSU."
Has ideal prototype size with great long armed frame, high level Ballhawk ability, quick feet & very good advanced technique. Displays very good physicality out of his stance with good Press man jam technique to reroute the WR, opens his hips well & tracks. Transitions in coverage very well. Can sometimes be a little too grabby but recognizes when to release & make a play on the ball.
There's been questions about his speed, and while he's not pure 100m burner, he did put up a nice 43.6 in the 300m hurdles April of this year, which shows good long speed & athletic power. For the 300m hurdles, pretty much any time under 45 is good for a HS Football player. He's a natural quick twitch athlete with great instincts.
- Good job on staying square off the WR's release while playing Outside leverage
- Readjusts his feet & opens to track to get on top of the WR's inside stem
- Uses his inside ham to make a low contact jam to keep the WR in front of him while shifting to inside leverage & playing back towards the inside hip
- Presses to the upfield outside shoulder to keep from giving up a double move & effectively cuts off the WR's stack
- Gets in phase, tracks the ball & gets the PBU
The only thing he didn't need to do was wrap around the WR with his off hand, but because he was playing the ball in the air & establishing positioning it wouldn't be a PI, unless you were playing on the road with some sh*tty refs lol. But either way, it was very good coverage against the Outside-In release Fade route.
- Starts off positioned with back towards the sideline at a 45⁰ angle with eyes on the QB
- Skates his feet diagonally to keep himself in position to play Outside leverage & wall off/Box-out the WR from getting behind him on an outside fade.
- Eyes the WR's, recognizes the route & immediately flips to cut off the sideline fade
- Plays the ball & gets the PBU right at the WR's hands
Some of you may recall (actually I'm sure none of you do lol), I highlighted Micah Abraham's textbook Bail technique in Chevis's hiring thread. Bail tech is one of the harder styles of coverage for HS CB's to learn, because while it may look very simple & fundamentally it is, the thing they struggle with is drifting & not knowing what/who to cover. So to see him ace this coverage (as a HS Sophomore btw; this is from his 2022 film) is a really good sign.
Here he is in Press Man:
- Excellent initial drop step to prepare for the potential outside release
- Immediate one-hand jam using the strong inside hand & transitioning into Steer technique
- Reads the WR's upper body & shuffles into playing against inside release while slowing down the WR's break
- He realizes it's an inside slant, plays to the upfield shoulder while using his inside hand to guide & cut the WR's route down
- Flatens while steering towards his hip & makes a great PBU
As a CB, a healthy portion of the routes you'll see on both levels (College & Pro) will be Slant routes. If you don’t know how to properly cover Slants, you're screwed. He showed terrific Jam & Steer while utilizing his quick footwork.
Here is playing Off in the Red Zone/Goal-line on the Boundary side
- Really good stance being more up than crouched down with shoulders inside.
When you're inside the 5-10yd line & not playing Press/Bump & Run, you don't want to be too leaned over where your shoulders are over your knees. You want to be more stood up with shoulders back to adjust to either the Corner pylon fade or the Inside Slant
- He keeps his upper body square with his hips perpendicular to the WR; Meaning, he didn't open or turn too soon because he understood he didn't need to. The End zone is the only thing behind him & he doesn't have to worry about getting beat on a 9 route.
- Very good eye discipline coordinating his feet with the route. He didn't allow for the WR running full speed at him to make him panic into overcommitting into either side of leverage. He let the route come to him.
- He recognizes its a Short climb 4, recalculates his feet & plays to the inside shoulder
- Uses his arm length to undercut the route & gets the TD saving PBU
- Does a really good job in not falling into the Switch-off pick play/rub route trap
- He reads the outside WR & instantly recognizes its gonna be a pick play & rather than over committing & running into his Safety, he gears down with his feet & reshuffle back to play the crossing WR coming from the Slot
- He shows really good IQ already understanding exactly where the WR is going & cuts off the route to the pylon
- Closes the distance by pressing to the inside hip of the WR who is turning upfield
- Gets Chest to chest & flips to the inside hip essentially walling off the route & makes a play on the ball at it apex to get another TD saving PBU
This is TEXTBOOK Stick & Drive drill work being displayed in real time. That's really good eye discipline, IQ, recovery speed & fluid hip/feet movement to successfully defend that play, especially within the 10yd line. Playing the Field side nonetheless (which means there's way more space for the WR).
Here he is playing Press man on the Boundary side:
- Inside leverage vs Outside
- Quick turn with shoulders towards the sideline reading the WR
- Flips his hips & plays the inside hip while getting in phase
- Uses outside one-hand jam to keep the WR in front of him & prevent getting stacked
- Reads the backshoulder route & gets the PBU
Overall, this kid is veey mechanically & technically sound for his age. He's natural cover Corner with lockdown potential. His physical traits are there. He may not have elite speed per se, but he has enough to not get beat on a regular basis. His physical upside combined with his technical savvy make him a potential future NFL draft pick. A kid of his caliber of talent can step right in & play as a TF (Assuming he has his head on straight).
Landing one of Louisiana's best is nothing to sneeze at; this kid is as good as they come & players like this usually never even so much as consider going to anywhere but LSU, Bama or TAMU. So this is a Huge Huge recruiting victory for Miami.
Its 1-1 on the scoreboard between Chevis & his former mentor; 12 round fight, let's see how this goes come December.
One of the best attributes about his game that repeatedly shows up on film, is that he keeps his upper body still with his waist inclined at a 30⁰ degree angle. This makes him a very effective Cover Corner, because it allows for his eyes to guide his feet, meaning there's no wasted movement which makes him more efficient in coverage.
He's not struggling to find his way back to the ball, he's simply reading & reacting. Which gets him to spots a lot quicker than some Corners who have to over commit & effort their way to the ball.
He had 11 PBU's & 5 picks, out of those 11, by my view, 9 of them were him winning the chess match by anticipating & correctly recognizing the right route. Which tells me, he's either made some tributes to Papa Legba & been granted the eyes of clairvoyance, or he studies film.
In both scenarios, it means we're getting a Special player if we can hang onto him.
One of the best attributes about his game that repeatedly shows up on film, is that he keeps his upper body still with his waist inclined at a 30⁰ degree angle. This makes him a very effective Cover Corner, because it allows for his eyes to guide his feet, meaning there's no wasted movement which makes him more efficient in coverage.
He's not struggling to find his way back to the ball, he's simply reading & reacting. Which gets him to spots a lot quicker than some Corners who have to over commit & effort their way to the ball.
He had 11 PBU's & 5 picks, out of those 11, by my view, 9 of them were him winning the chess match by anticipating & correctly recognizing the right route. Which tells me, he's either made some tributes to Papa Legba & been granted the eyes of clairvoyance, or he studies film.
In both scenarios, it means we're getting a Special player if we can hang onto him.
Here is the latest as we head into a big July cookout with the 2025 and 2026 classes: - The staff is zeroing in on WR Jaime Ffrench (Jacksonville). He's at LSU now and likes Texas, but he's in Miami this weekend and the team is going to make a huge push. He is a huge priority player and...
I've tried to explain that for years on here. Only thing more crooked than high school football recruiting is high school basketball recruiting and the Catholic church