Cortez Mills: Miami bringing a lot of "positive energy"

DMoney

Mar 11, 2024 4 min read

Every year, South Florida has an alpha dog wide receiver. In 2022, it was Brandon Innis. Last year, it was #1 overall player Jeremiah Smith. This year, there may not be a receiver more coveted than Homestead’s Cortez Mills. He was hugely productive for the 3M state runner-up, catching 79 balls for 1,640 yards and 18 TDs. Mills carried that success into the offseason as the star of the RAW 7-on-7 team. He also dominated at the Under Armour Camp.

It’s no surprise that multiple big name schools are hot on the trail. The 6’1, 170-pounder with 3XL gloves has already set up official visits with Clemson (May 31), Florida (June 7) and the hometown Miami Hurricanes (June 21).

CanesInSight was able to catch up with Mills and get the latest on his recruitment:

On his relationship with Miami: “Every week they got a chance to come down to see me, they came down. And every time they came down, they had positive energy. Every time when they were around my mom, she just loved the way they talked. She just loved the vibe. They just came down, and they just had everything set. That got my mom's attention.”

“It's right there. It's 30 minutes away. So it's home away from home. Every time I step on campus, they always show me love. It's just always a great environment. The atmosphere always outstanding.”

On Cristobal’s message to his family: “He was just letting me and my mom know, if I come to UM, I'm in good hands and he’s going to take care of me and help me develop to get to the next level. That's what I'm looking for.”

“He told me he’s going to get me there and the way he’s going to get me there is to keep recruiting me as hard as he can. Just keep making sure I'm straight and my mom's great and my family's great.”

On his timeline for committing to a school: “I’ll probably commit right before the season, probably the first three games. I don't want to wait too late.”

On his mentality: “On the field, I'm a dog and my confidence to the sky. I don't see nobody. Off the field, I'm just going to be me. I'm just going to be me at all times. It don't matter who I'm around. I'm still the same person.”

On whether he looks at depth charts: "Like I said before, my confidence is to the sky. So anywhere I go, I feel like I'm just going to compete and work for my spot. I'm going to get up to the top."

On player comparisons: “Every time coaches come to the school, they always compare me to Devonta Smith. So I've been studying his game lately."

On his goals for his senior year: “I would love to carry my team to a state title. I had an amazing year my junior year [1,640 yards]. My senior year, I’ve got to go out with a bang. So I'm planning on topping that. I'm planning on going for 2,000.”

On Team RAW: “RAW is a great program. We got a whole bunch of dogs on the team. Every day in practice, we got to compete against the top athletes in the country. We got great coaches, like Coach [Tommy Shuler, former Central and Marshall star]. They just help us develop over there.”

Mills is currently ranked as the #96 overall player and #11 WR nationally on the 247 Composite.

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Brock Berlin

Mar 15, 2024

TRick72 said:
Don’t think anyone who lives that far south is willing to go further north than Palmetto/Columbus to play ball. Plus Homestead had a really good team last year losing in the State Championship game to STA

I always think this then I see dudes riding the tri rail from dade to go play in broward and vice versa lol

Even seen WPB dudes transferring to inner city dade schools which is wild

grover

Mar 15, 2024

OrangeBowlMagic said:
This kid is very much an alpha in SFL.

If/when he pops, it will open a lot of eyes in Dade. His commitment will be followed quickly by several others, imo. I think it’s about to be a nice spring for the squad.

Feels like the talent is up across the board at the skill positions in the tri-county and Florida in general, and they're not all dragging it out to February like before. Maybe this early early signing day move helps Miami? Either way, momentum is much better than it was a year ago, and we ended with a Top 5 class. Recruiting is looking amazing right now.

The 3 main concerns about Mario's recruiting at Miami -- QBs, WRs and DBs -- all look to be shot down emphatically in this class.

T
TheNation305

Mar 15, 2024

Is anyone else skeptical due to the track record of Down South WRs? Not just Miami signees .. but any down south WR

Ermon Lane, Tyree Brady, Pope, Wiggins, Brashard was decent , Tacoi Sumler, Frank Ladson, Dionta Mullins, Jalen brown has a lot to prove, CJ Whorton, Herb waters, Antonio Callway (transferred to BTW)

Down south doesn’t have a good track record when it comes to WRs… last one to hit was Roscoe Parrish ??

Hoping & rooting for Mills to break that trend .. hoping for at least a Leonard hankerson type career if he comes here .. we will see.

J
Jaxcane4

Mar 15, 2024

TheNation305 said:
Is anyone else skeptical due to the track record of Down South WRs? Not just Miami signees .. but any down south WR

Ermon Lane, Tyree Brady, Pope, Wiggins, Brashard was decent , Tacoi Sumler, Frank Ladson, Dionta Mullins, Jalen brown has a lot to prove, CJ Whorton, Herb waters, Antonio Callway (transferred to BTW)

Down south doesn’t have a good track record when it comes to WRs… last one to hit was Roscoe Parrish ??

Hoping & rooting for Mills to break that trend .. hoping for at least a Leonard hankerson type career if he comes here .. we will see.

There are definitely kids that don't live up to the hype but there also has been a crazy amount that have been good in college since Parrish.

TheRichtShow

Mar 15, 2024

TheNation305 said:
Is anyone else skeptical due to the track record of Down South WRs? Not just Miami signees .. but any down south WR

Ermon Lane, Tyree Brady, Pope, Wiggins, Brashard was decent , Tacoi Sumler, Frank Ladson, Dionta Mullins, Jalen brown has a lot to prove, CJ Whorton, Herb waters, Antonio Callway (transferred to BTW)

Down south doesn’t have a good track record when it comes to WRs… last one to hit was Roscoe Parrish ??

Hoping & rooting for Mills to break that trend .. hoping for at least a Leonard hankerson type career if he comes here .. we will see.

Herb Waters was a decent college WR. For a low 4* I'd say he did about as expected

grover

Mar 15, 2024

Talent is talent

305to954

Mar 15, 2024

This FL WR class is deeper than a cycle ago.

305to954

Mar 15, 2024

Is mills on commit watch?

gogeta4

Mar 15, 2024

HurricanesR1 said:
I know people laugh at questions on how he compares to Mark Pope but this board had an erection when that guy committed here and was considered a big win because "elite" guys like that would always sign elsewhere. It's easy to laugh now since he didn't work out but let's not act like we knew he was a bum.

he had bum stats his sr year and a lot of folks here were calling it.

I never was hhigh on pope and down south wrs scare me...but ive been high on Mills for awhile

SWFLHurricane

Mar 16, 2024

305to954 said:
Is mills on commit watch?

Yup....

305to954

Mar 16, 2024

SWFLHurricane said:
Yup....

Hopefully we seal this up

SWFLHurricane

Mar 16, 2024

305to954 said:
Hopefully we seal this up

We will...

305to954

Mar 16, 2024

SWFLHurricane said:
We will...

We better…kid has the goods

305to954

Mar 16, 2024

Who’s got the scoop on Tyler Williams..kids a freak. Another campus visit with pops is a good sign..we close to ****** something there too or is this premature?

Kansas Cane

Mar 16, 2024

305to954 said:
Who’s got the scoop on Tyler Williams..kids a freak. Another campus visit with pops is a good sign..we close to ****** something there too or is this premature?

Kind of feel like Charles is out and Tyler Williams is in.

T
TheNation305

Mar 16, 2024

Jaxcane4 said:
There are definitely kids that don't live up to the hype but there also has been a crazy amount that have been good in college since Parrish.

crazy amount that have been good? I dont know about that bro(WRs from kendall to homestead?), but respect your sentiment. Always going to be kids that dont live up to hype for sure, Not trying to be a mope, just noticed that trend. Duasso said he's deceptively fast, and is great at making contested catches, but im curious to see how that will translate to P5 elite ball

Again Im pulling for him,, Im a down south guy,, so not even throwing shade.

T
TheNation305

Mar 16, 2024

TheRichtShow said:
Herb Waters was a decent college WR. For a low 4* I'd say he did about as expected

Fair, but didn't Golden prioritize Herb over Amari Cooper? The evaluation from Hect was Herb> Amari?

Brains

Mar 16, 2024

TheNation305 said:
Is anyone else skeptical due to the track record of Down South WRs? Not just Miami signees .. but any down south WR

Ermon Lane, Tyree Brady, Pope, Wiggins, Brashard was decent , Tacoi Sumler, Frank Ladson, Dionta Mullins, Jalen brown has a lot to prove, CJ Whorton, Herb waters, Antonio Callway (transferred to BTW)

Down south doesn’t have a good track record when it comes to WRs… last one to hit was Roscoe Parrish ??

Hoping & rooting for Mills to break that trend .. hoping for at least a Leonard hankerson type career if he comes here .. we will see.

Pretty sure Parrish is from Coconut Grove. That's not Down South.

T
TheNation305

Mar 16, 2024

Brains said:
Pretty sure Parrish is from Coconut Grove. That's not Down South.

I know the Grove isn't down south. Theres parrishes in Goulds, Pretty sure has family in Goulds.. theres alot of families in Goulds orginally from douglas(37th ave) so you probaly right. Thats before my time, which makes the point about down south WRs even more alarming.