UM was definitely recruiting Carter and I think Thomas as well. The problem UM had was that Schnellenberger holdover coach was recruiting these guys. I believe it was Bill Trout who was pretty good recruiter in his day. As we all know, JJ did not get along with the holdovers on defensive side of ball, and after 1984 season he fired them, and that is when he lost contact with several local kids, including the South Miami HS LBers. They were definitely class of 85 because my brother was '84 and played against them his senior year. Two years earlier South Miami HS also had Fred Jones, who played for FSU. His son Marvin also played for FSU.
Bill Trout was a holdover, a former UM player, and was DC for the '84 season. To say that their was disagreement philosophically, and perhaps personally, between JJ and Trout is an understatement. Trout continued to use Tom Olivadotti's read-and-react defense, and I think JJ must have been fuming. During a game against Purdue, when I think we were having trouble getting to Jim Everitt, at halftime, JJ put Victor Morris, a LB, at end, and told him to not do anything other than rush the passer. It was a desperation move to save the game, which we won. It was a battlefield switch from the old defense to JJ's attacking 3-4. At least, that's the way I remember it.
We had embarrassment after embarrassment later in the '84 season. The worst was the incredible comeback by Maryland to beat us. Reportedly, after he thought we had the game put away, our DC Bill Trout left the pressbox and was incommunicado during the last part of the Maryland comeback. I think he resigned after that game.
It was no wonder we had such a bad end to the season: we had a combination of Schnellenberger and Johnson coaches on the staff, with antagonistic philosophies on defense. The defensive coaches had severe internal disagreements. The offensive staff that held over from Schnelly were OK--Gary Stevens, Hubbard Alexander, Joe Brodsky.
I remember when UCLA beat us in the Fiesta Bowl they're coaches were shocked that we didn't bring the heat on defense. They said they expected, and prepared for, a Johnson-style blitzkrieg, of the type he employed at Oklahoma State, but were very surprised when we just sat back.
Johnson cured all of this when he brought in his old friend Dave Wannstadt from USC to be his DC. The only other coach I remember who also left after a year with Johnson was Christ Vagotis, who was OL coach. Johnson brought in Tony Wise to be his OL coach starting in '85. I think Vagotis rejoined Schnellenberger at Louisville, as did maybe Ray Ganong, who was strength coach. I remember also that there was some guy in the sports info department who was so loyal to Schnelly who followed him to Louisville, too.
I think some of the old Schnellenberger people had so little regard for Johnson, thought he was some kind of country boy hick that they had contempt for him. I remember how Tom Olivadotti actually dissed him at the first meeting of the coaching staff. He didn't stay on as DC, so he was replaced I believe from someone else on staff, Trout.
The Schnellenberger coaches who became loyal to JJ did very well. Most went to Dallas. These included Brodsky and Alexander. Stevens did not go to Dallas. He thought he would succeed Johnson, but they went outside to Erickson. Don Soldinger who had been hired from Southridge after the '83 season, I believe coached under Schnelly for the '84 spring practice, stayed on with Johnson as a loyal member of the staff.
The '84 recruiting class was signed by Schnelly. I doubt that Bill Trout would have been recruiting Keith Carter the last few months, because he quit or was fired during the '84 season before it ended. So, for the last few months of his recruitment, it would have been a different recruiter on staff. It could've been Trout had been his recruiter until late in the '84 season, and we lost any possible chance with Carter once Trout was gone.
But no, at the end of the recruiting season, February 1985, Trout was no longer at Miami. And as I said, that change might have played a role in our losing Carter, but that's just speculation now. That's consistent with what you're saying above. The turmoil and transition on the staff probably killed our ability to recruit quite a few players, including the South Miami LBs.
Don't forget that FSU was recruiting very well in '85. Look at that '85 class I linked to--it included Sammie Smith, Pat Tomberlin and Deon Sanders among others. They killed us in recruiting that year.
