After all the theatrics of early signing day had settled down, Miami head coach Manny Diaz took to the podium to express his satisfaction with the 18 new players that became Hurricanes today.
“The way I want to start is to not talk about their talents and achievements, but the mentality that makes them special - we made some changes to the way we recruit,” Diaz said. “We made changes staffing-wise (in the recruiting department)… The bigger change, we made a difference in what it means to be a Miami Hurricane, what it means to be committed.
“The 18 men that signed scholarships today, from the time they committed they never wavered. When we went into their homes in the course of November, it was `Not only are we with Miami, with the Canes, we’re coming to solve the problem, be the fix.’ A class with the mentality like that from top to bottom is very rare. We have a rare group of players.”
Will Miami take commitments from players in the 2021 class that still plan to take visits?
“If you’re committed to us you can take other visits, but we’ll look for somebody else,” Diaz said. “That’s why in our mind we did not lose a commitment today because he (Romello Height) had taken another visit.”
Whether you prefer 247Sports (18th), Rivals (15th), or ESPN (19th), each recruiting service pegged the early signing day haul of Miami's class as worthy of a top 20 national ranking. However, the Canes efforts were dampened a bit when they failed to add any new commits on early signing day, and they also lost one commit as well.
“Fairly or unfairly, signing day is decided by the ones at the end, which devalues (the commits),” Diaz said.
Even though the Canes ended the year at a disappointing 6-6 with two terrible losses to FIU and Duke to close out the regular season, Diaz was encouraged by how the core of the class never wavered.
“We finished the season as poorly as you can finish it and these 18 guys - these guys are fired up… that to me has been the most encouraging thing of this month,” Diaz said.
Of course, the Canes are still not done, and have another 2 months to add to the class ahead of the final signing day in February.
“In February, when the class is done in its entirety, we’ll have a chance to quality control,” Diaz said. “To have our class ranked where it’s ranked means we can recruit. We’ve got something special… From top to bottom this is a class we love these guys on the field, off the field.”
Diaz also reiterated his recruiting strategy to focus locally on South Florida before moving further out into Florida and then nationally.
“Dade County on up,” he said of his philosophy.
As for positions in the class he expects to add to, Diaz mentioned that bringing in a JUCO or transfer offensive lineman is certainly a possibility.
“A lot can happen in January,” Diaz said. “I would say we have it planned out, I’ll put it like that.”
Diaz was also asked about specific signees, including UM’s two star local running backs they landed in Jaylan Knighton and Don Chaney.
On Knighton: “I went to a Jamboree in Palm Beach County in Jaylan’s 10th grade year - you’re watching a ton of players, and in my mind he was the best player on the field that day. When you’re talking about trying to increase your explosiveness on offense - that can be a changer for a program. Jaylan provides that.”
On Chaney: “Donald has the speed to go all the way, is a sturdy guy. The way they complement each other, get them the ball.”
UM is in the middle of practice for the Independence Bowl against Louisiana Tech and Diaz said every position is having an open competition, including QB.
“The first few days in 7-on-7 we were repping all our quarterbacks,” Diaz said. “All the guys are out there competing.”
WR Jeff Thomas, DE Trevon Hill, and DE Jon Garvin all recently announced they would be sitting out of the bowl game to prepare for the NFL Draft, but Diaz does not expect any other players to sit out and is planning on having some of the younger players to take on bigger roles to replace those veterans.
“Jahfari (Harvey) will play, Jason Blissett could see some snaps,” Diaz said. “Sam Brooks should get in there, get some good action. Those are some guys that stand out.”
Diaz added that he expects DE Scott Patchan to be granted a medical waiver to return for a 6th year of eligibility, and also said he plans on having 13 early enrollees from the 2020 class at this point.
“The way I want to start is to not talk about their talents and achievements, but the mentality that makes them special - we made some changes to the way we recruit,” Diaz said. “We made changes staffing-wise (in the recruiting department)… The bigger change, we made a difference in what it means to be a Miami Hurricane, what it means to be committed.
“The 18 men that signed scholarships today, from the time they committed they never wavered. When we went into their homes in the course of November, it was `Not only are we with Miami, with the Canes, we’re coming to solve the problem, be the fix.’ A class with the mentality like that from top to bottom is very rare. We have a rare group of players.”
Will Miami take commitments from players in the 2021 class that still plan to take visits?
“If you’re committed to us you can take other visits, but we’ll look for somebody else,” Diaz said. “That’s why in our mind we did not lose a commitment today because he (Romello Height) had taken another visit.”
Whether you prefer 247Sports (18th), Rivals (15th), or ESPN (19th), each recruiting service pegged the early signing day haul of Miami's class as worthy of a top 20 national ranking. However, the Canes efforts were dampened a bit when they failed to add any new commits on early signing day, and they also lost one commit as well.
“Fairly or unfairly, signing day is decided by the ones at the end, which devalues (the commits),” Diaz said.
Even though the Canes ended the year at a disappointing 6-6 with two terrible losses to FIU and Duke to close out the regular season, Diaz was encouraged by how the core of the class never wavered.
“We finished the season as poorly as you can finish it and these 18 guys - these guys are fired up… that to me has been the most encouraging thing of this month,” Diaz said.
Of course, the Canes are still not done, and have another 2 months to add to the class ahead of the final signing day in February.
“In February, when the class is done in its entirety, we’ll have a chance to quality control,” Diaz said. “To have our class ranked where it’s ranked means we can recruit. We’ve got something special… From top to bottom this is a class we love these guys on the field, off the field.”
Diaz also reiterated his recruiting strategy to focus locally on South Florida before moving further out into Florida and then nationally.
“Dade County on up,” he said of his philosophy.
As for positions in the class he expects to add to, Diaz mentioned that bringing in a JUCO or transfer offensive lineman is certainly a possibility.
“A lot can happen in January,” Diaz said. “I would say we have it planned out, I’ll put it like that.”
Diaz was also asked about specific signees, including UM’s two star local running backs they landed in Jaylan Knighton and Don Chaney.
On Knighton: “I went to a Jamboree in Palm Beach County in Jaylan’s 10th grade year - you’re watching a ton of players, and in my mind he was the best player on the field that day. When you’re talking about trying to increase your explosiveness on offense - that can be a changer for a program. Jaylan provides that.”
On Chaney: “Donald has the speed to go all the way, is a sturdy guy. The way they complement each other, get them the ball.”
UM is in the middle of practice for the Independence Bowl against Louisiana Tech and Diaz said every position is having an open competition, including QB.
“The first few days in 7-on-7 we were repping all our quarterbacks,” Diaz said. “All the guys are out there competing.”
WR Jeff Thomas, DE Trevon Hill, and DE Jon Garvin all recently announced they would be sitting out of the bowl game to prepare for the NFL Draft, but Diaz does not expect any other players to sit out and is planning on having some of the younger players to take on bigger roles to replace those veterans.
“Jahfari (Harvey) will play, Jason Blissett could see some snaps,” Diaz said. “Sam Brooks should get in there, get some good action. Those are some guys that stand out.”
Diaz added that he expects DE Scott Patchan to be granted a medical waiver to return for a 6th year of eligibility, and also said he plans on having 13 early enrollees from the 2020 class at this point.
for one moment. Y not just say “It was a loss for us and these things happen, but that won’t dampen the haul of young men that are True Canes.”
