Recruiting Update 12/19

Peter Ariz
Peter Ariz
3 min read
-For those have been asking about whether or not Sonny Odogwu's recruitment affects Denver Kirkland, it does not. Coach Kehoe really loves Odogwu's upside and Kirkland is a take no matter what. If I had to guess, I would say that Odogwu could be Miami's next commitment.

-In a surprising move, WR Coach George McDonald left Miami today for the same position at Arkansas. This move came out of nowhere and it is a significant loss on the staff. As far as his coaching, many close to the program believed that he was the best position coach, which was seen in the development of the receivers this past season. On the recruiting trail, the loss of McDonald may not have a direct impact on many recruits for this cycle, but I can tell you that he was very well-respected in the South Florida community by recruits and coaches alike. I've spoken to multiple high school coaches who believed that he was the best recruiter on the staff and they loved his personality. The one recruit that comes to mind that this might affect is Stacy Coley. McDonald was spearheading the recruitment of Coley along with RB coach Terry Richardson. The saving grace here could be Richardson, due to the fact he is an alum of Northeast High School, where Coley attends. Miami will need to hire a position coach soon in order to keep their positioning with Coley.

-Today's commitment of JuCo TE Beau Sandland is the second junior college pick-up for Miami in the last week (Devante Bond). Miami is still pursuing a number of other JuCo targets and this signals one thing to me: This staff believes they can win BIG next year. For example, the staff could have held onto Travis Johnson (who is a very good prospect) and developed him over the next few years, but instead they took a chance by pursuing a college-ready target for Stephen Morris. You can't argue with this strategy, it just shows how highly this staff thinks of next year's team and in particular Stephen Morris.

-Although the ship has sailed, I know a lot of people are curious as to what happened with the recruitment of Lavon Hooks. A source told me tonight that it was in fact an issue with grades like some had suspected. It had to do with some online course, but I don't know the specifics.
 

Comments (93)

thanks pete.

Looks like we'll just have to hire an even better recruiter and coach than McDonald. I Trust In Al. In Al I Trust.
 
"This staff believes they can win BIG next year. For example, the staff could have held onto Travis Johnson (who is a very good prospect) and developed him over the next few years, but instead they took a chance by pursuing a college-ready target for Stephen Morris. You can't argue with this strategy, it just shows how highly this staff thinks of next year's team and in particular Stephen Morris."

That's a money tidbit Pete.
 
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Pete, I love these updates. Great work. I wish Golden would hire Lamar Thomas.
 
Would Al give Lamar Thomas a look. I think he'd be a good recruiter and could bring back some old Miami swagger to the receiving corps.
 
Pete what kind of chance do we have for troop?
 
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Would Al give Lamar Thomas a look. I think he'd be a good recruiter and could bring back some old Miami swagger to the receiving corps.


Just saw LT 2 weeks ago he was down here recruiting
 
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Maybe we could hire ron zook

LOL you say this but If Coach D would have left...we could of done worse at DC

I'm not joking zook is out of a job and is a monster recruiter we could shuffle our staff a round a bit and hire him


zook was a DB coach early in his career...if one of our defensive coaches left or was let go it would definitely work. Then we could hire a competent WR coach who maybe isnt the best recruiter
 
Does McDonald leaving hurt our chances with Coley,Pete?

I highly doubt it. Coley is a local kid. he either wants to be a cane or he doesn't. doubt the position coach with no roots to UM has any impact
 
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AG's credibility is much higher than when he left Temple for us. He should be able to make an excellent hire.
 
AG's credibility is much higher than when he left Temple for us. He should be able to make an excellent hire.


One of the most under-appreciated aspects of being a head coach is their professional network. Coach Golden seems to have a very solid network of professional (coaching) associates. I have confidence that he'll find a solid replacement.

To further the thought, look at many of the failures of Larry and Randy. Neither could ever assemble a complete staff for more than a year. Neither was well connected in their profession.
 
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