Chaminade-Madonna CB Te’Cory Couch has signed with Miami. He is the fifth signee of the day for Miami.
The 5-10, 150-pounder is currently a 4-star in the national rankings. According to the 247Sports Composite, Couch is the #302 player nationally, #31 CB in the country, and the #41 player in the Sunshine State.
Recruiting Story
Couch actually had an interesting path to Miami filled with two prior commitments. The 4-star talent committed to Tennessee coming off a camp in Knoxville in which he earned an offer during the summer of 2017. Offers started rolling in from other big-time Power 5 schools such as Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Michigan State, Michigan, and Oregon. When UM came in with a verbal scholarship in February of 2018, they seemed like they were the team to beat. From then on, Miami was the favorite, and that was even after Couch flipped his commitment from Tennessee to Michigan on an official to Ann Arbor in April. The Canes’ staff stayed on him and in June, UM flipped him from the Wolverines while Couch was on campus for a Mark Richt summer camp. From that time on, Couch completely shut down his recruitment and did not take a single visit to another school or keep in contact with any other coaches.
Evaluation
Couch is that pesky corner that is constantly in his man’s hip-pocket and is hard to separate from. He has great quickness, and has necessary hip-flip to recover from mistakes in press and lapses in coverage in space. He shows an ability on tape to play both on the outside and inside the slot and I like his technique to mirror and match in press coverage. While being a consistent presence on the outside could prove challenging for him at the next-level, Couch has the attributes to develop into a blanket in coverage in the slot at Miami.
People worry about Couch’s slight size, and that’s a valid concern with his slim build. But his length is off the charts, which is a quality that the UM staff believes is more important than size at corner. Couch has also more than performed against elite competition at camps over the off-season and in his senior season at Chaminade. I saw him in-person at the Under Armour Miami camp back in March and he was one of my top performers, while Couch even earned an invite to the Under Armour Game as well.
The Team
Couch is UM’s only signee at corner as of now. By 2019, Miami will lose bonafide #1 corner Michael Jackson, as well as their third corner Jhavonte Dean, to graduation. Only Trajan Bandy, Gilbert Frierson, DJ Ivey, Al Blades Jr., and Nigel Bethel are returnees at corner.
While that has the potential to be a more than solid rotation, only Bandy has proven to be an every down cornerback in college. Blades Jr. and Ivey showed flashes last season in limited playing time, while Frierson and Bethel took redshirts.
Redshirt Probability: 7/10
Without an established corner rotation returning to Coral Gables, there will be immediate playing time available for Couch if he comes in and shows he can handle the college game both physically and mentally, although at 150 pounds in his senior year of high school, a redshirt has to be considered a legitimate possibility as of now. I can see Couch playing a lot of slot/nickel in his second year, and learning the ropes from a senior Bandy; he even has the potential to help out on special teams. By Couch’s third season, Bandy will be gone and Couch could very well be UM’s go-to option for coverage in the slot.
The 5-10, 150-pounder is currently a 4-star in the national rankings. According to the 247Sports Composite, Couch is the #302 player nationally, #31 CB in the country, and the #41 player in the Sunshine State.
Recruiting Story
Couch actually had an interesting path to Miami filled with two prior commitments. The 4-star talent committed to Tennessee coming off a camp in Knoxville in which he earned an offer during the summer of 2017. Offers started rolling in from other big-time Power 5 schools such as Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Michigan State, Michigan, and Oregon. When UM came in with a verbal scholarship in February of 2018, they seemed like they were the team to beat. From then on, Miami was the favorite, and that was even after Couch flipped his commitment from Tennessee to Michigan on an official to Ann Arbor in April. The Canes’ staff stayed on him and in June, UM flipped him from the Wolverines while Couch was on campus for a Mark Richt summer camp. From that time on, Couch completely shut down his recruitment and did not take a single visit to another school or keep in contact with any other coaches.
Evaluation
Couch is that pesky corner that is constantly in his man’s hip-pocket and is hard to separate from. He has great quickness, and has necessary hip-flip to recover from mistakes in press and lapses in coverage in space. He shows an ability on tape to play both on the outside and inside the slot and I like his technique to mirror and match in press coverage. While being a consistent presence on the outside could prove challenging for him at the next-level, Couch has the attributes to develop into a blanket in coverage in the slot at Miami.
People worry about Couch’s slight size, and that’s a valid concern with his slim build. But his length is off the charts, which is a quality that the UM staff believes is more important than size at corner. Couch has also more than performed against elite competition at camps over the off-season and in his senior season at Chaminade. I saw him in-person at the Under Armour Miami camp back in March and he was one of my top performers, while Couch even earned an invite to the Under Armour Game as well.
The Team
Couch is UM’s only signee at corner as of now. By 2019, Miami will lose bonafide #1 corner Michael Jackson, as well as their third corner Jhavonte Dean, to graduation. Only Trajan Bandy, Gilbert Frierson, DJ Ivey, Al Blades Jr., and Nigel Bethel are returnees at corner.
While that has the potential to be a more than solid rotation, only Bandy has proven to be an every down cornerback in college. Blades Jr. and Ivey showed flashes last season in limited playing time, while Frierson and Bethel took redshirts.
Redshirt Probability: 7/10
Without an established corner rotation returning to Coral Gables, there will be immediate playing time available for Couch if he comes in and shows he can handle the college game both physically and mentally, although at 150 pounds in his senior year of high school, a redshirt has to be considered a legitimate possibility as of now. I can see Couch playing a lot of slot/nickel in his second year, and learning the ropes from a senior Bandy; he even has the potential to help out on special teams. By Couch’s third season, Bandy will be gone and Couch could very well be UM’s go-to option for coverage in the slot.
