Its only November

[No_Fly_Zone]

QB - Big Dud
RB - Very good, especially if Lyle is added.
WR - Elite
TE - Personally not high on him but blah.
OL - All developmental guys with size, good thing is we won’t need them to play early and they have earned some benefit of doubt here.
Edge - Upside guys, need weight. 2 of them likely won’t see the field next year.
DT - 1 big dud, 1 dude, who we may not even keep. Severely underwhelming.
LB - Duds
CB - Duds. Severely underwhelming.
Safety - Player


Need to cut some fat, say everything you want about this class being “good”, but we didn’t pay Mario 8M a year for “good”. If this was a UF/FSU class, you all would be laughing at them.

We need to just keep winning and go after the right guys in the portal. Impact guys who help us in 2024 is the objective, not duds who are backups and rotational guys.

I am probably higher on Shavers and Pruitt as LBs than you are, though acknowledge neither seems like an immediate contributor. Even then, I'd probably just call this LB class "okay" (though it would be good if Hayes flips, and I think he could log snaps as a TF).
I'm also very high on Lightfoot, too, but I think he's used in just a few, specific sets next year while he grows into the position.

Otherwise, this is pretty spot on.

 

[htownkidd]

I am probably higher on Shavers and Pruitt as LBs than you are, though acknowledge neither seems like an immediate contributor. Even then, I'd probably just call this LB class "okay" (though it would be good if Hayes flips, and I think he could log snaps as a TF).
I'm also very high on Lightfoot, too, but I think he's used in just a few, specific sets next year while he grows into the position.

Otherwise, this is pretty spot on.

Pruitt has upside, but he is someone who will need time and should be in the bottom 3rd of our class, not the top …

 

[No_Fly_Zone]

Pruitt has upside, but he is someone who will need time and should be in the bottom 3rd of our class, not the top …

Agreed. I look at Shavers and Pruitt at LB in a similar vein as I look at guys like Broussard and Plazz at OL. Yes, they have some great traits to be excited about, but we need those guys to be rounding out HS recruiting at those position groups, not leading it.

Here's a fun exercise. Look at our LB and OL commits for c/o 2023 and 2024. Then, rank them as one combined position group. Here how I see it:

OL
Mauigoa ('23)
Okunlola ('23)
Broussard ('24)
Kinsler ('23)
Plazz ('24)
[BGCOLOR=initial]Tinilau ('23)[/BGCOLOR]
[BGCOLOR=initial]Francavilla ('24)[/BGCOLOR]
[BGCOLOR=initial]Tripp ('23)[/BGCOLOR]
Minaya ('24)

LB
Popo Aguirre ('23)
Malik Bryant ('23)
Bobby Washington ('23)
Pruitt ('24)
Shavers ('24)
Marcellius Pulliam ('23)

 

[TwentySix]

Gonna have a bad time if you try to use last year’s offensive line haul as a benchmark.

Could also do the same thing with receivers but in reverse. Think there’s at least an argument to be made that all 3 in this years class are above what we got last year. (Not saying that’s definitive, I’d personally have Ray Ray ahead of Chance, but if we’re putting Bobby above Pruitt I think there’s some wiggle room)

 

[SayWhat]

I’ve made my thoughts clear. At least 8-10 guys that don’t improve the quality and depth of this roster, and that’s a casualty of lack of wins in 2023 + losing battles on the trail to more successful programs (and maybe stingy with the checkbook? That part changes with each recruiting win or loss it seems).

Regardless, we should never have the third-best class in the state with Mario as our coach.

Instead, just hope we finish 3-1 to finish out the year and they said “win and they’ll come”. So let’s win 9 games.

If we win 9, I expect a class within that 8-10 range and an average per recruit rating inside the Top 13. That would be much better, and hope we hit at a higher clip in the portal for the ‘24 season.

You and I usually agree, but I said long ago when NIL came out that it wouldn't work out the way people thought. I expected the big schools to dominate with cash flow aplenty from those huge alumni bases.

I've also said all along that once things changed, NIL > NFL production > Winning or relationship building, etc. It's the show me the money time in college football.

So on paper, you expect Mario to do well, but without the money to play up with the bigs and elites, it's unsurprising to me that we sit last right now. The value of our dollar is less than the others. We need more of it to compensate for those other deciding factors.

As for the class, it's uninspiring on paper. Some will surprise for good or bad, but it's a step down from last year for sure.

We got a jump on the NIL early thanks to some deep pocket donors, but the bigs and elites have ramped up their NIL game and flew right by us.

 

[WeBallinBoyz]

You and I usually agree, but I said long ago when NIL came out that it wouldn't work out the way people thought. I expected the big schools to dominate with cash flow aplenty from those huge alumni bases.

I've also said all along that once things changed, NIL > NFL production > Winning or relationship building, etc. It's the show me the money time in college football.

So on paper, you expect Mario to do well, but without the money to play up with the bigs and elites, it's unsurprising to me that we sit last right now. The value of our dollar is less than the others. We need more of it to compensate for those other deciding factors.

As for the class, it's uninspiring on paper. Some will surprise for good or bad, but it's a step down from last year for sure.

100%, except the question regarding our NIL changes by the week…****, sometimes by recruit. I know there’s more donors than Ruiz, yet the question remains whether or not they’re willing to pony up as frequently. He did it to show off, and I personally loved it. Not as fun when our two in-state rivals have better classes tied directly to more spending.

No clarity, hence the sporadic results this cycle (thus far).

 

[Kansas Cane]

Plenty of needs in the class and on the team….BUT five dudes in the Top 75 is exceptional. Last year’s class was the highest ranked class in the 247 era and we had three commits in the Top 75, two of which are making massive impacts on the field this year. Not saying we have a Bain-type in our class yet, but the hit ratio on our high end guys will be the best it’s been with Mario leading the way.

 

[WeBallinBoyz]

Plenty of needs in the class and on the team….BUT five dudes in the Top 75 is exceptional. Last year’s class was the highest ranked class in the 247 era and we had three commits in the Top 75, two of which are making massive impacts on the field this year. Not saying we have a Bain-type in our class yet, but the hit ratio on our high end guys will be the best it’s been with Mario leading the way.

I think Carr, Riley and Patterson can contribute early. Lightfoot probably but not 100% convinced. Pickett and Rudolph not a chance as of now, they’re going to need weight. Trader I think will need a year, maybe comes on 2H of 2024. Jones is so talented (presuming we hold on), but he’ll need a year for sure.

 

[RightSaidFred]

Imagine actually typing "missing a top shelf stud" about a group that includes the #37 and the #41 overall player.

The internet is the greatest invention in humankind history, but sometimes it's really the worst.

A top shelf stud is a 5-star. The players we have committed at WR are very good, but we've been getting very good players for a few cycles and we're missing that game changer like Smith

 

[RightSaidFred]

I tend to agree with your assessment about coming in 3rd behind FSU and Florida. But let's be realistic for a moment. Let's say that signing day was today. Currently FSU is 2nd and Florida is 3rd in recruiting. That would mean Miami has to finish first or second to beat them in the rankings. When is the last time that happened? I just don't think you are being realistic this year. FSU and Florida are not going to recruit this well year and year out (at least I hope so). We need to look at how we do against them over a time period, not just one fluke year.

We recruit a lot of the same players, being that we're in the same state. If we won some of those head-to-head battles, our class would be ranked higher and theirs would be ranked lower. So no, we wouldn't have to be ranked first to be ahead of them, we just have to not lose recruiting battles for the players in their classes that we want.

 

[TwentySix]

A top shelf stud is a 5-star. The players we have committed at WR are very good, but we've been getting very good players for a few cycles and we're missing that game changer like Smith

Trader is a 5* on 2 of the 4 major sites and Carr is borderline (and if he had some verified times he’d probably be a 5*, that’s the only knock on him). Those are real dudes.

I’d love to get Smith, and assuming that doesn’t happen flipping McCoy would also be great. But the receiver class is great as-is.

 

[Josh]

The class can be salvaged if we can close on some high end targets like Mincey and Lyle. As of now it’s about a B- do to glaring holes at QB, DT, and CB. We will absolutely need to hit the portal hard at those positions, especially DT. We lack that space eater who can allow our super athletic DTs more 1v1s. We need to add more speed at CB also. Hoping JW20 comes back next season but let’s see. I like Pruitt at LBer and he can afford to sit a year or two behind the kids we brought in last cycle. If we can land a strong portal class and get back to a similar class as last cycle for 25 we’ll be on track.

 

[smack99]

Depends on how you see Miami. Competing for titles, this class isn’t helping with that. This current class puts us further into ACC purgatory. No QB, CB, or DT class really aren’t worth a ****. WR class is **** good, OL is bad, RB is solid with Lyles, DE and S are pretty solid.

 

[grover]

QB - Big Dud
RB - Very good, especially if Lyle is added.
WR - Elite
TE - Personally not high on him but blah.
OL - All developmental guys with size, good thing is we won’t need them to play early and they have earned some benefit of doubt here.
Edge - Upside guys, need weight. 2 of them likely won’t see the field next year.
DT - 1 big dud, 1 dude, who we may not even keep. Severely underwhelming.
LB - Duds
CB - Duds. Severely underwhelming.
Safety - Player


Need to cut some fat, say everything you want about this class being “good”, but we didn’t pay Mario 8M a year for “good”. If this was a UF/FSU class, you all would be laughing at them.

We need to just keep winning and go after the right guys in the portal. Impact guys who help us in 2024 is the objective, not duds who are backups and rotational guys.

Facts. We have some great headliners to the class. But it's nowhere near Top 10 right now.

* The Good: WR, RB, Edge and ZP at Safety.

* The Bad (not really bad, but meh): OL, TE and CB. At OL If we get the JUCO OL Hulk, I'd say we're good. Need to close him. I like Lofton a lot, but he's not really a TE. I'm not opposed to skipping this class to focus on other spots. But it's certainly not a "good" outcome. Still missing a CB1 with no one but Robinson talented enough to be that in this class. Bad timing since there aren't elite South Florida CBs like previous classes. In general, several verbals and targets need "senior evals" that should have us go in a different direction. Do we have good options?

* The Ugly: You can't have 3 development QBs in a row in Brown, Williams and Judd Anderson. That's totally unacceptable. And you can't go into a recruiting cycle advertising you're landing a Top 3 DL to end with a Top 15-25 DL. While the outcome is technically okay, the objective has been grossly underachieved. Thank God we got the Bama transfer. But he's not enough, and I have to believe Cohen helped land him more than Taylor and Salave'a,, which isn't a ringing endorsement of our DL coaches' ability to recruit.

Agree with @WeBallinBoyz et al that the portal is going to be much harder to win this time around. Norvell is fired without the portal; hes ACC COach of the Year because of it. Dabo looks like a chump for avoiding the portal and several of his coaches are probably on the chopping block. Every head coach is looking at these examples saying they want to be like Mike. And I just don't believe our NIL budget is differentiated from everyone else's NIL/Bag budgets. No insider, but I'll bet it's a disadvantage this cycle with Ruiz unexpectedly cash poor. All the recruiting outcomes point to us struggling to match much less beat other programs.

So I'm not optimistic we close strong. Mario is relentless, which makes me believe his Plan Cs will be better than some of Manny's and Golden's Plan Bs. But without more money and a major upgrade at QB recruiting/portaling, we land a Top 10-15 class that performs like a Top 20-25 program on the field. Get used to 8-4 / 9-3 seasons. Better than past stpahs. But not what I was expecting out of Mario and Radokovich. I really hope they get this fixed. Going 4-0 or 3-1 would obviously help out A LOT. Fingers crossed.

 

[razrcane]

Current class keeps us on the level we currently are program wise. That isn’t what they brought Mario here to do

 

[grover]

Yet you said yesterday that it's hard to take something serious that I said... Lack of wins he says while we're 6-2 with a top 10 class (no matter the reason for it) some of you people will never be satisfied. We pull a chip and it'll be yeah but we could've went undefeated. Stop being so miserable as a collective & see if we can find a positive or two to lock on.

I hate the mopes, @Brooklyndee .

But here's where I'm at -- I agree that 6-2 (which should have been 7-1), with the #11 class is on track and even ahead of schedule vs. my personal expectations. But the way we reached those two outcomes seems unsustainable to me. So something has to give. We need to either start performing well on offense again and have our O win games for us or we're going to lose to FSU and UL. And we need to stop losing so many battles for elite recruits or we're going to end up with a Top 15-20 class when all is said and done, both high school and portal.

Ne/net, if we want the moping to stop, then the momentum needs to swing back our way with improved performance both in games and in recruiting.

 

[RightSaidFred]

Trader is a 5* on 2 of the 4 major sites and Carr is borderline (and if he had some verified times he’d probably be a 5*, that’s the only knock on him). Those are real dudes.

I’d love to get Smith, and assuming that doesn’t happen flipping McCoy would also be great. But the receiver class is great as-is.

I'm not knocking the guys we have, but none of them is a top end elite like Smith. Does UNC beat Miami if they don't have Dez Walker? Having that one big time difference maker can matter.

 

[TheEye]

It’s not what we hoped for. Regardless, this class will bring in players that straight up outclass Many Diaz’s players. With some good portal transfers we can fill in the other holes we have. FSU had an unremarkable class last season and they are at the top of the conference. This our first season with Guidry and Dawson. Let’s see how the next year plays out.

 

[CT Cane 44]

QB-Project
RB-Elite player
TE-Very good player
WR-Elite class
OL-Athletic projects down year for OL across the nation

DE-Very good class, maybe 1 elite player in Lightfoot
DT-1 good player, missing quality and numbers
LB-Ok class
CB-I personally like Mack and Frederique, but I know the star gazers dont like this CB class
S-Really like this safety class with arguably top S prospect in America, and high upside S

Again this recruiting class is fine if you supplement it with portal players also. Like DT, isn't as big a miss since you added Burroughs.
If Miami adds a portal QB, that position isn't a big miss.

I still expect Miami to add a few more quality players in this class.

Awesome post. If we beat NCST lose to FSU take care of Buisness and win 9 games that’s improvement.

I think we close with Lyle, Lucas, Bell, the DT pitt commit, and I wouldn’t bet with 9 wins we won’t flip 1-2 kids we didn’t think we’d get.

Portal QB is a must. Portal corners DTs and a backer would make me feel alot better.

 

[armandose23]

I won't hedge my bet even though I want to. What I will say is that these next 4 games will determine the outcome of recruiting. Im going to say, IF we win out, we'll get the guys we want and secure a top 5 class. If these games don't go so well, we end up with the class we have and maybe some less flashy additions. Any other variation of those two scenarios is not what I'm expecting and I just, as always, hope for the best for the program.

My official prediction is winning 3/4, losing a tight game to FSU, and recruiting closes well but not WOW.