2021 Chaminade-Madonna RB Thad Franklin committed to Miami yesterday afternoon only a few short days after receiving an offer from the Hurricanes.
The 6-0 195 pounder is currently unranked right now in the national rankings, as only a few 2021 prospects have such a designation. His commitment only helped UM’s #1 class ranking on 247Sports.
The Player
Franklin received his Miami offer on Monday and wasted little time, accepting a spot in UM’s class just two days later. Franklin now joins four other teammates at Chaminade-Madonna (Te'Cory Couch, Keontra Smith, Cam Williams, and Willie Moise) that are committed to the Canes. Franklin has had a huge sophomore season for Chaminade-Madonna and has really burst on the scene in the past month or two. However, his stock really hit it’s peak in the past week, when he received offers from Florida State, Georgia, Penn State, and Mississippi State in addition to Miami.
Although Franklin is not yet ranked, don’t let that fool you: that’s mostly a product of not being active on the camp circuit. At the least, Miami has a high 4-star RB on their hands here. Franklin has quality burst through the line of scrimmage to rip through arm tackles and attack the second level of a defense. Once he gets a head of steam, Franklin is tough to bring down and has a great physical build for a RB at 6’0” 195. While Franklin is not a true burner, he’s very much an angular runner with build-up speed to get to the edge or outrace a DB in the open field. He shows an effective jump cut to defeat contain and swiftly run away from the flow of the defense. I also love how decisive he is with his cuts and he doesn’t dance around in the backfield; in other words, he gets north-south very quickly. In a perfect world, he would iron out his upright running approach and get a little lower, but Franklin has plenty of time to learn the finer points of the position in the next few years.
The Class
Franklin is the fifth commit overall in the 2021 class and the first running back. Being over two years from the class of 2021’s signing day, it’s difficult to accurately predict how the numbers will shake out for this class with so many variables still undetermined.
The only other current offer out to RB’s in this class is to Miami Jackson 4-star Amari Daniels and UM has been pursuing him since he was in middle school. The Canes were his first offer back in 8th grade and UM would love to pair a quicker, shiftier back like Daniels with a size/straight-line speed combo back like Franklin. Daniels most recently visited Miami for a Mark Richt summer camp back in June, but has not been to a game yet this season. Most feel Miami is in a pretty good spot for Daniels but there’s obviously a long way to go and Daniels is getting heavy interest from top schools around the country; FSU in particular will be tough to fend off here.
There’s projected to be 3 RB’s from the current roster that will be around when Franklin makes it to campus, so UM has to continue to up the numbers here, but obviously, Miami will be taking multiple RB’s in the 2019 and 2020 classes to help balance the roster.
The Team
Miami is loaded at the RB spot right now, just how it should be for being located smack dab in the middle of a hotbed for skill position talent. Only three current RB’s on the team will still have eligibility at Miami by the time Franklin hits campus in 2021, and they are Robert Burns, Lorenzo Lingard, and Cam Davis. In the 2019 class, Miami has a commitment from Marcus Crowley and are planning on adding another back, while they are still without a commitment at RB in 2020, but will surely take at least one.
Franklin will battle with all these players for snaps in the rotation as a freshman and is physically developed enough to have a chance at seeing solid playing time early on. With the current depth chart completely cleared out by 2022, there’s a good chance Franklin is battling to start by his sophomore season.
The 6-0 195 pounder is currently unranked right now in the national rankings, as only a few 2021 prospects have such a designation. His commitment only helped UM’s #1 class ranking on 247Sports.
The Player
Franklin received his Miami offer on Monday and wasted little time, accepting a spot in UM’s class just two days later. Franklin now joins four other teammates at Chaminade-Madonna (Te'Cory Couch, Keontra Smith, Cam Williams, and Willie Moise) that are committed to the Canes. Franklin has had a huge sophomore season for Chaminade-Madonna and has really burst on the scene in the past month or two. However, his stock really hit it’s peak in the past week, when he received offers from Florida State, Georgia, Penn State, and Mississippi State in addition to Miami.
Although Franklin is not yet ranked, don’t let that fool you: that’s mostly a product of not being active on the camp circuit. At the least, Miami has a high 4-star RB on their hands here. Franklin has quality burst through the line of scrimmage to rip through arm tackles and attack the second level of a defense. Once he gets a head of steam, Franklin is tough to bring down and has a great physical build for a RB at 6’0” 195. While Franklin is not a true burner, he’s very much an angular runner with build-up speed to get to the edge or outrace a DB in the open field. He shows an effective jump cut to defeat contain and swiftly run away from the flow of the defense. I also love how decisive he is with his cuts and he doesn’t dance around in the backfield; in other words, he gets north-south very quickly. In a perfect world, he would iron out his upright running approach and get a little lower, but Franklin has plenty of time to learn the finer points of the position in the next few years.
The Class
Franklin is the fifth commit overall in the 2021 class and the first running back. Being over two years from the class of 2021’s signing day, it’s difficult to accurately predict how the numbers will shake out for this class with so many variables still undetermined.
The only other current offer out to RB’s in this class is to Miami Jackson 4-star Amari Daniels and UM has been pursuing him since he was in middle school. The Canes were his first offer back in 8th grade and UM would love to pair a quicker, shiftier back like Daniels with a size/straight-line speed combo back like Franklin. Daniels most recently visited Miami for a Mark Richt summer camp back in June, but has not been to a game yet this season. Most feel Miami is in a pretty good spot for Daniels but there’s obviously a long way to go and Daniels is getting heavy interest from top schools around the country; FSU in particular will be tough to fend off here.
There’s projected to be 3 RB’s from the current roster that will be around when Franklin makes it to campus, so UM has to continue to up the numbers here, but obviously, Miami will be taking multiple RB’s in the 2019 and 2020 classes to help balance the roster.
The Team
Miami is loaded at the RB spot right now, just how it should be for being located smack dab in the middle of a hotbed for skill position talent. Only three current RB’s on the team will still have eligibility at Miami by the time Franklin hits campus in 2021, and they are Robert Burns, Lorenzo Lingard, and Cam Davis. In the 2019 class, Miami has a commitment from Marcus Crowley and are planning on adding another back, while they are still without a commitment at RB in 2020, but will surely take at least one.
Franklin will battle with all these players for snaps in the rotation as a freshman and is physically developed enough to have a chance at seeing solid playing time early on. With the current depth chart completely cleared out by 2022, there’s a good chance Franklin is battling to start by his sophomore season.
