Hey,
@flagator86 ...
Tell your Gaytor friends...
This concept of "none of the Canes fans knew about this"...is not true. I have been hearing about multiple recruits that "nobody" thinks we have a chance with...but the difference between the Miami fans who know, and, say...QueJay...is that we are concerned ENOUGH about the internet press and certain big-mouth porsters damaging the process...that we have not been talking about it as much as others do...
Need I remind you..."Warchant reports Amarius Mims will sign with F$U"? And now "247 reports Cormani McClain commits to Florida"?
I went to UM with Mario. He may be overly paranoid about this stuff, he may take too many counter-measures, but at least he's not letting some local restaurant manager (because that's all that a Chick Fil-A "owner" is, since they don't "own" the Chick Fil-A) watch a player's commitment video.
I'm not here to take credit or say that I "knew" anything on a "more likely than not" level of certainty. On the other hand, if we wanted to analyze Gaytor corches and fans, THEIR level of certainty that they WOULD get Cormani is even more suspect than anything else in this discussion.
But here's the truth, and I'll never reveal my sources. Weeks ago I was given certain names that nobody thought we were still in it (for their potential verbals). And for the last couple of weeks, multiple guys that I trust have been...EXTRA unspecific about the names, so I knew at least one was about to commit.
To be clear, I was nowhere above 50% certain for Cormani, but based on the timing of Cormani's announcement, I had HOPE. And, yes, kids can be fickle and kids can troll us, so I'll never pull a QueJay and start calling the shot days in advance.
So to summarize...yes, Miami 247 didn't know. Miami on3 didn't know. Miami Rivals sure as **** didn't know. But some Miami insiders had an idea that this could happen, and stayed quiet. What is so amusing (to me personally, probably not to you) is that Cormani did NOT tell Slingblade Billy that he was coming, yet the Gaytor corches are "shocked", but he DID tell the Miami coaches he was coming, and Mario did not allow any leaks to the internet press.
We may still need to let a few more Manny recruits go elsewhere and then give their PT to the 2023 class. We might need to "let" Gattis take another job at another school. But Mario has been honest with these recruits, and they have not (yet) held the losses against us.
Your fellow Gaytor fans can invent all the myths they want, but here's the truth. Mario is building a culture (and facilities) and the recruits like what is happening. And you know this as well as anyone, campus life in Coral Gables is pretty sweet. Palatial dorms (one is open, a second one is on the way), beautiful weather and women, and a nice mix of a "quiet campus bubble" that's just a few miles away from Miami and Miami Beach night life. The "Hard Rock attendance" issue is well-known and has been relatively constant for decades, it's not some big surprise. Some kids don't swoon over college towns and "gameday atmosphere".
The funny thing is that in about 36 hours, we might both be 4-4. The perception that UiF/Gaypier are so far ahead of UM/Cristobal in the eyes of the recruits is just ridiculous.
PS, for the record, both schools offered Cormani a fairly nice NIL deal, Miami didn't win this on the basis of "a lot more money".
