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Assessing this recruiting class

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DMoney said:
I agree with this. It wasn’t the master plan going in, but it was the right decision at the end.
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I agree but we must use that money hard in the portal because if we strike out there on some premier postions things will get bad fast
 
DMoney said:
I'm not going to spin this into a win. Mario's stated goal is a Top 5 class, and his expectation is a Top 10 class. He believes in recruiting rankings, recruiting rankings are better than ever, and the scoreboard says 14th in the nation.

The timing also hurts. We had a devastating loss on Saturday, and Mario is supposed to make his name in recruiting. I've been told reliably that we will go hard in the Portal. This finish puts a lot of pressure on executing that plan and crushing the Class of 2026.

But there are still good players signing up to be Miami Hurricanes. Big picture, this class reminds me of the season. I love our our offensive class, our defensive class is shaky, and we have big holes in the Back 7.

I believe three things hurt us. First, the new calendar has kids taking visits and committing before the season. That means the prior season (7-6 in our case) has more impact than the current season. Second, our defensive performance was uninspiring to those who were uncommitted or looking around. Finally, the staff just didn't recruit well enough in some spots.

On the positive side, this class has a lot of highly productive players who come from winning programs. That's no guarantee of success (see 2008), but I think we got smarter and tougher with this class.

Below are my thoughts on each position group:

QB- Luke Nickel (Alpharetta, GA) is the best quarterback we've signed in the Cristobal Era. He reminds me of Sam Howell: thick-bodied, quick processor, with functional athleticism and the ability to drop the ball in a bucket. In pads, he's a champion with big stats (10K total yards, 112 TDs). In shorts, he's an Elite 11 finalist and a deadly 7on7 player. The tools aren't special, but he has no hole in his game and has an extremely high floor. I think he's our backup this year.

RB- Even though he's a consensus Top 10 player at his position, I believe Girard Pringle (Seffner, FL) is underrated on here. This is an instant-impact guy with the ability to change games. He has legit track speed (10.8 laser, 10.5 hand) and, more importantly, combines that speed with efficient cuts and quickness. It's like a power hitter in baseball. A guy may hit it 500+ feet, but if he can't make contact he can't get to his power. Pringle has the lateral movement and balance to get to his pullaway speed. Plus, he's tough. I made the Jahmyr Gibbs comparison on the pod, and Mario echoed that in his presser. I think Pringle competes with Chris Johnson, Jr. to play right away.

WR- This is a very good class. We could've used a truly dynamic guy with the ball in his hands (there's nobody like that on the roster), but these guys have the key WR traits. First, all three are very productive. Josh Moore (West Broward) had two 1K seasons facing double teams. He would've had three straight if not for an injury as a junior. Daylyn Upshaw (Phenix City, AL) and Malachi Toney (American Heritage) are both 1K receivers against elite competition. Production correlates to success at the WR position.

Second, they are football players. All three got snaps at safety this year and made plays to win games. When Toney's QB went down, he took over and led his team to victory (as Xavier Restrepo did at Deerfield Beach when Michael Pratt got hurt). These are not 7on7 guys.

Finally, they all have ball skills and play strength. This is where Mark Pope, Dee Wiggins and Romello Brinson struggled. All three of our signees have the ability to pluck the ball and finish through contact. Athletically, Toney and Upshaw are short-area demons, while Moore has incredible springiness (check his post-TD backflips). Pure speed is the only weakness of the class, but it's also a slightly overvalued trait at WR (see how many elite NFL pass-catchers ran 4.5 or worse).

OL- Love the interior line class. To build a championship roster, you need 3-4 high impact guys every year. These are the guys that go high in the draft and win awards. SJ Alofaituli (Las Vegas) is the safest best in this class to be a star. He combines elite, verified short-area quicks with power, weight-room strength, flexibility and intangibles. He could start Year 1. Max Buchanan (Sanford, FL) brings a needed edge to a thin roster of guards, with the feet to play tackle in a pinch.

The tackles are more of a projection. This class could've used a high-end guy here, given Mirabal's ability to recruit those types in the past. Jaden Wilkerson and Demetrius Campbell are pretty similar: big, Orlando-area basketball converts with limited experience against big-time competition. Both have the athleticism to pass protect, but are much more comfortable as road graders right now. Wilkerson is more powerful, and Campbell is nastier. It all comes down to how they develop as pass blockers.

TEs- This is a good group. Brock Schott (Leo, IN) is a high-intensity, two-way football player with straight-line speed. He's more linear and narrow than Elija Lofton, but he can play a similar role as a versatile piece. Luka Gilbert (Cincinnati, OH) projects as a high-end inline blocker. While he doesn't separate like a pure receiving TE, he is a fluid mover (basketball player) who catches the ball with his hands. His willingness to block, his elite size (6'7, 250) and his high school role should have him ready to play early.

DE- The defensive class is weak overall, but this group is excellent. Hayden Lowe (Los Angeles, CA) combines the size of a base-end (6'4, 250) with very good athleticism. The staff believes he has first round tools. Herbert Scroggins III (Savannah, GA) is a standup end who can bend and get off blocks with long arms and good technique.

What I love about these two is their production. Like WR, pass rusher is a production position. Scroggins is setting sack records in Georgia, and Lowe had a monster senior year (16 sacks). They both play with exceptionally high motors.

DT- This position is like OT in that you are counting entirely on projection. Mykah Newton (Newberry, FL) is boom or bust only because of his weight. His film shows outstanding suddenness and movement, but he needs about 30-40 pounds. Donta Simpson (Chaminade) has a Jon Ford-type body type and is young for his grade. He also had the fastest 3-cone drill of all the OL/DL nationally at the Under Armour Camps. This includes edge rushers who weigh 100 pounds less than him. The tape has strong flashes but inconsistency, so he will need development.

LB- Kellen Wiley (Seffner, FL) saved this position from disaster. He's an outstanding athlete (triple jump, long jump, javelin throw) with rare size for a high school, off-ball backer (6'4, 225). His senior film is electric. Ezekiel Marcelin (Central) is a highly productive player with solid quickness but otherwise average tools. The loss of Gavin Nix hurts bad- we really need to add a high IQ tackling machine in the Portal.

DB- This is the biggest disappointment of the class. The two best players are hurt. Assuming he comes back 100% from injury (and I've heard nothing otherwise), Jaboree Antoine (New Iberia, LA) brings much needed length and athleticism to the room. He's also reputed to be a high-character, low-maintenance kid. Amari Wallace (Central) is the type of instinctive, aggressive tone-setter we've lacked since the departure of Jaquan Johnson.

Chris Ewald (Chaminade) is solid and well-schooled, but I don't know if he has the athleticism to be a front-line guy. I like CBs who play both ways and/or play multiple sports in high school. Bryce Fitzgerald (Columbus) is a supreme athlete and playmaker who has shown zero physicality. He'll get a shot at CB, but I'd bet on him settling in as a WR and returner (where he is exceptional). We'll need to go Portal-heavy here, and I hope we prioritize pure athleticism at CB and IQ/physicality at safety.

All in all, I'm excited to watch these guys play. The path to the playoff is through the ACC and we're still recruiting the best in the conference. It's time to break through.


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@DMoney So which Defensive coach gets fired first in your opinion?
 
HurricanesR1 said:
Very disappointing class. Mario better hit several home runs in the portal but most of our portal additions under his guidance have been mediocre, especially on defense.

QB Reese Poffenbarger
WR Frank Ladson
WR Tyler Harrell
TE Cam McCormick
OL Jonathan Denis
OL Logan Sagapolu
OL Lou Cristobal
DL Jake Lichtenstein
DL Antonio Moultrie
DL Thomas Gore
DL Anthony Campbell
DL Marley Cook
LB Caleb Johnson
DB Demetrius Freeney
DB Davonte Brown

Need more guys to make impacts and not fill deep depth spots.
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I want to reserve judgement for this portal cycle. I think he acknowledged in a back handed way he ****ed up the first season with the portal.

Thought this season was a lot better in terms of talent. Missed more on the defensive side but had a sneaky good one in barrow.
 
Recruiting staff is on par with our Defensive staff. Can we expect changes to Mario's bread and butter staff @DMoney?
 
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Ziggy said:
The game has changed with the portal and NIL but recruiting will always be 1A. Make no mistake, this is a good class but it felt Manny-ish and not Mario-ish. I'm pretty surprised that with a heisman finalist, 10 wins, and money we weren't able to close like we all thought we would but losing games late and the defensive product on the field cost us. Florida and in particularly South Florida had a down year in 2025... but we whiffed on big time talents that we went all in on such as Pickett, Hanks, V Brown, Ffrench, Stubbs, etc.

Mario needs to take the secondary personally - both in the portal this off season and recruiting for 2026. That room needs a complete flip like he did with the offensive line.

Anyway, pleased with the class. My fav guys are Pringle, Nickel, Schott, SJ, and Buchanan. Congrats to all the new canes!
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Key question is did we simply get outbid on those big time whiffs?
 
DMoney said:
Bryce Fitzgerald (Columbus) is a supreme athlete and playmaker who has shown zero physicality. He'll get a shot at CB, but I'd bet on him settling in as a WR and returner (where he is exceptional). We'll need to go Portal-heavy here, and I hope we prioritize pure athleticism at CB and IQ/physicality at safety.
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Are you guessing on this or is this legitimate info from the staff that he's not even under consideration to play Safety? I hope its legit.

Try him at CB first (maybe he ends up like CJ Henderson) and then WR.

CJ Henderson is his ceiling and Ryan Mayes is his floor (and most likely outcome) at CB.

I think he's a Stacy Coley type WR. Floor and ceiling if he's there day 1 and full time but starting at CB and learning nuances and things could help him become a better WR in the long-term. Could become more technical and he will have to be to negate the lack of physicality.
 
ST26 said:
I'm going to get hate for this comment, but from a strategic standpoint, the staff did the right thing. We could have overpaid for guys like Stubbs, Nix, and Merit just to make it look nice on the 247 recruiting rankings website. Instead, we will use this money for elite portal additions and the 26 class. At the end of the day, I believe it's the right move
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This is fine, but it only works if you win those battles in the portal.

You will be going up against the same teams that “outbid” you in HS recruiting, and they will be equally as eager to land those kids as you are, doing whatever it takes.

Mario, good luck. We need and Oregon/Ole Miss-esque portal haul in 2025, and that’s not cheap.
 
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Yoyo82 said:
I keep seeing this "Dawson leaving". Where's he going?
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Not sure yet personally but it seems pretty likely

But even if he doesn’t it’s pretty easy for that to be used against us even if it doesn’t play out. Like yes we were 10-2 with a prolific offense but it’s not some long term system yet so it’s pretty easy to pick apart
 
DMoney said:
I'm not going to spin this into a win. Mario's stated goal is a Top 5 class, and his expectation is a Top 10 class. He believes in recruiting rankings, recruiting rankings are better than ever, and the scoreboard says 14th in the nation.
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I'll assess this recruiting class with a GIF...


Mad Men Not Great Bob GIF
 
OrangeBowlMagic said:
I always say on here and in my personal life, things are very rarely black and white. I agree, it's not all Guidry and it's not all the kids. But let's be real, when it's THAT bad, it's very likely the kids stink and the coach stinks.

So I'm not putting it 100% on Guidry, his defense did look better when he had NFL kids back there last year. But it really doesn't matter, when you produce a unit that terrible, you have to go. I'm not even saying it's 100.0% deserved, but when it's THAT terrible, people lose jobs. They have to. He can't be the DC here next year. I know Mario won't fire every single defensive coach, nor should he, I'm just saying when your defense is that terrible, you really can't justify keeping a single one of those guys.

We finished 92nd in the country in scoring defense for only conference games. Ninety. Second. That's worse than the 2022 defense finished.

68th in yards per play allowed in conference games.

You really wanna throw up? We all watched Miami vs Florida on 8/31. Complete mismatch. They didn't even belong on the same field against us.

We finished 68th in YPP allowed vs Duke, Cal, VT, Syracuse, Wake Forest, FSU etc.

That gator defense finished 62nd in YPP allowed playing LSU, Ole Miss, Texas, UGA, A&M etc.

Sickening.
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Agree entirely. Even if it’s not all on Guidry, the optics are terrible. The defensive recruiting class isn’t anything to write home about, esp in the secondary.
hcanes100 said:
Good coaches take bad kids and make them more productive than most think possible. In my humble opinion, Guidry is not in that bucket. A bad coach can take bad players and make them look worse, a bad coach can take good players and make them look worse. A good coach can take bad players and make them look better, a good coach can take good players and make them special.
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Well, suffice to say our defensive players looked quite bad.
 
@DMoney If there are significant staff changes coming, how do we coordinate that with the portal? Presumably we are going to go after defensive guys heavy - how many top end transfers are signing on without knowing who will be calling plays or potentially who will coach their unit?
 
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whether we wanted it or not this was the year to "miss" also because we have a lot of Fresh/Sophs that have money invested in them so next year we should start to see the fruits of the previous two seasons labor.

So now you bring in this class but you use some 1-2 year portal guys to fill in the Jr/Sr classes while hoping that 2026 is back to top 5 type recruiting.

I like the point about recruiting of a 7-6 season...of 5-7 you sell the future...off 7-6 not every kid is sold on that....but now on 10-2 we can sell the next step.

Should be another entertaining off season. Wouldnt mind winning one more of them
 
@DMoney Any pre-portal #'s list for each position?
QB
WR if a #1 is available
OT
2 DT's
1 DE
1 LB
2 CB
2 S
 
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ST26 said:
I'm going to get hate for this comment, but from a strategic standpoint, the staff did the right thing. We could have overpaid for guys like Stubbs, Nix, and Merit just to make it look nice on the 247 recruiting rankings website. Instead, we will use this money for elite portal additions and the 26 class. At the end of the day, I believe it's the right move
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No issue with the strategy. However, I don’t trust Mario to be quick enough, nor identify the proper talent(especially on the defense/WR) to get us major impact guys. Not to mention convincing players wanting to play for this defensive staff if it remains in tact
 
I think the biggest disappointment was in not being able to flip any kids. Hanks and Brown are UF legacies, so that's easy to see. Wilson is a diva and probably not worth the bag he got. But I was truly expecting at least one of Pickett, Alford, and Carter. Just getting one of those guys along with Wiley would have been a huge boost. Hurts to keep losing great Florida players to Ohio State.....I get it, but I don't.
 
JayCane20 said:
Are you guessing on this or is this legitimate info from the staff that he's not even under consideration to play Safety? I hope its legit.

Try him at CB first (maybe he ends up like CJ Henderson) and then WR.

CJ Henderson is his ceiling and Ryan Mayes is his floor (and most likely outcome) at CB.

I think he's a Stacy Coley type WR. Floor and ceiling if he's there day 1 and full time but starting at CB and learning nuances and things could help him become a better WR in the long-term. Could become more technical and he will have to be to negate the lack of physicality.
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Based off what Mario said it sounds like he will start off at cb. He called him a man to man guy that can play safety too
 
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