My thoughts on the class (long)

[LuCane]

I really have to ask this im new to the board tired of the paysite bull****... My first message board forum was grassy . com now i have to ask how long have you guys been following the program and recruiting because some of this nonsense is a joke... .... So i dont want to come off 2 hard i mean some of you guys might been fairly new to the process ?

My first comparison of a football recruit was made on the military prototype of the internet.

 

[FRCane]

I really have to ask this im new to the board tired of the paysite bull****... My first message board forum was grassy . com now i have to ask how long have you guys been following the program and recruiting because some of this nonsense is a joke... .... So i dont want to come off 2 hard i mean some of you guys might been fairly new to the process ?

 

[Jeffrey Lebowski]

If we're so stubborn on size, why did we sign Berrios? Kinda shoots down the McKenzie argument, no?

Why do you think we didn't offer McKenzie? Athletic ability?

And come on, Dowels? Offers from Rutgers, Utah, Appalachian State, NIU, and Cuse? That's the kind of kid that this and previous staffs have gotten murdered for signing in the past.

Offers from Clemson and Oklahoma. Both teams looked pretty good last time I saw them.

Are you suggesting that Miami coaches start the rumors of kids getting paid because they can't admit defeat? You lose all credibility with me if that's the case.

OK.

How was Powell's defection a total ***** up?

He is a 4.0+ student who waited two days because of "transcripts." I'll let you fill in the blanks.

It's a little contradictory to say that QB is the strongest position in the class, but the QB recruiting was 'clumsy' (I happen to agree with the latter, although that has nothing to do with Flowers or Treon).

QB is the strongest position in the class because Kaaya is an excellent prospect. I said we should've offered Treon as a QB in the spring. The fact that we did so in January (when he didn't grow an inch) suggests that something was wrong with our approach.

This is just dumb. The vast majority of us are firmly in the middle of these two groups.

But yet the only points you disagree with are the points that are critical of our coaches. I stand by my position that the fan base is polarized.

I have a feeling this gets exaggerated because those that are further towards the edges of the spectrum tend to scream louder and more often. JMO of course.

 

[cowboycane]

I really have to ask this im new to the board tired of the paysite bull****... My first message board forum was grassy . com now i have to ask how long have you guys been following the program and recruiting because some of this nonsense is a joke... .... So i dont want to come off 2 hard i mean some of you guys might been fairly new to the process ?

You should post this exact same thing at WestEndZone.com

Probably find much better info and get a more thoughtful response.

 

[Joecane]

I really have to ask this im new to the board tired of the paysite bull****... My first message board forum was grassy . com now i have to ask how long have you guys been following the program and recruiting because some of this nonsense is a joke... .... So i dont want to come off 2 hard i mean some of you guys might been fairly new to the process ?

You should post this exact same thing at WestEndZone.com

Probably find much better info and get a more thoughtful response.

+ a million

 

[sebastian91]

I have a feeling this gets exaggerated because those that are further towards the edges of the spectrum tend to scream louder and more often. JMO of course.

That's essentially what I said originally. DMoney cherry-picked the quote and left out that part.

 

[SevenNSeven]

I try and keep even keel about these things, but the coaching staff is ****ing me off, and not just for the obvious reasons.


This 'smartest man in the room' routine that they have is rapidly turning poisonous.


They need to go all in with this ****. It's like they are walking on eggshells, waiting to offer local studs and avoiding all 'handlers' on principle.


This **** may be chess and not checkers, but the god**** staff is treating it like it's Jenga and they're expecting it to collapse.


Golden made all that pleasant noise about how we should out recruit $EC teams in our backyard, how we shouldn't be afraid. He needs to walk the ******* walk. I just refuse to believe that he can't appease the locals without breaking rules, that it's just that cut and dry.

 

[Joecane]

Oh, it's checkers alright. This staff just wants to play it like it's chess.

 

[nbrewer22]

Rudolph
Valentine
Powell
Gibbons
Bethel
Eduoard
Turner
Lockley
Stuckey
Griffin

That is a lot of talent that we lost this year, and we still finished near the top 10, but imagine how we would have done if we could have hung on to these guys. I know we can't sign 35 kids, and some were academic reasons, while others were due to attrition, but thats a lot of talent on that list...

 

[fivecent]

More than anything, I just love seeing kids like Demetrius Jackson and Trayon Gray shed tears for the colors. I don’t care if it’s corny. Last year was the roughest NSD in ages, but we will always remember Stacy Coley putting on the Swag hat. These guys will represent the Canes for the next few years and maybe the next decade in the pros. Forget about the coaches. That’s what this day is about.

Welcome to Miami, fellas. Let’s go get number six.

I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiment that this has to be about these south florida kids. They are who built the Canes football we all love. Its why I hate it so much when guys get on here and dog these kids if they fall a little short of expectations. Let's hope more of these kids can say forget about who the coach is at the time and have the mentality "We are the U." As a side note, a "We are the U" marketing campaign might not be such a bad idea.

Now for the bad. With mediocre talent this staff faced off against teams who themselves had mediocre talent and we either barely won(and won ugly) or lost. To win the championship we will have to face teams with elite talent. Even if we also have elite talent, based on past performance against equally matched opponents, I am not hopefully that this staff can get the job done as they are currently constructed. Something has to change. Either members of the staff, or their mindset/coaching ability. When all other things are equal, it eventually comes down to coaching. Just look at USC after Kiffin got fired.

 

[killacane]

D$ curious on Wilson. Went to several U School games and I just dont see it. Sean White is a much bigger ? if you want to pick someone on that team

Lex,
The funny thing is that I'm not a huge Wilson guy. I liked him in the camps, but as you can see in my rankings I have a lot of concerns that he's a tweener. The Booker T game (which you mentioned) raised a ton of concerns. But he's very similar to Mayes and, if you're going to take Mayes, I think Wilson is the better player.

I believe we need to do a better job of "playing the game." We can't pay, but there are other things we can do. Look at all the South Florida guys Coley offered when he was at FSU. Those guys may not have all been FSU caliber, but he wanted to establish a presence down here.

If we're going to use scholarships on post-signing day Hail Marys, I don't see why we can't use scholarships for political/package deal reasons.

I just wonder if the staff (Golden) are able to change. They seem very stubborn and set in their ways. They try and spin things at least to the media. To me this year will prove a lot through the recruiting approach and defensive scheme if Golden has a chance to succeed at UM.

 

[Canes581]

Overall I think this class is very solid and I am very happy with all the players we got. It is definitely disappointing that we missed on many great players in our backyard, but I think people are looking too much into that and saying our coaches did a bad job because of it.

Even though these kids grew up by Miami, these kids coming into college now dont remember "The U". They grew up watching a sub-par Miami team while Florida was off winning championships and seeing Florida St enter the national picture again and win a championship this season. I realize the Gators sucked this year, but that hasnt been the norm for them as it has been for us for so many years.

Also, i dont think having players in your backyard means as much now as it once did. Of course we are always going to have a slight advantage because of our close proximity, but I dont think staying home is as important to a lot of recruits as it once was. It seems like many players these days dont care as much about distance and want to experience something new, so they go further away and dont pick us. But our staff has done a great job adjusting and making inroads to places like NJ and getting some top recruits from there and other areas.

The staff definitely has made some mistakes but I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that the recruiting game has changed over the last few years with handlers and 7 on 7 and all that. As the years go by I think our staff will continue to make adjustments and as we win more, we will get more and more of the top recruits again.

I am **** excited for the guys we got though and cant wait to see them play and hopefully help bring us back into the national picture.

 

[Gatorhater]

If Golden is the man for the job, he has enough to win with. If he’s not, the next guy will have a balanced roster without the gaping holes that Coker and Shannon left behind.

This is how I feel. Thanks for summing things up.

Bottom line is I don't think this is an "A" class at Miami, yet we got like 10 guys who I think have a better than 50% chance at being NFL players. Says a lot about our geographic advantage. Football is not getting less popular in inner city Miami.

Exactly my feeling. Think the class is good enough to win and win a lot. With excellent coaching, it is good enough to beat FSU. With good coaching is it good enough to be second in ACC. With the coaching we saw last year, no class short of the 2001 team is good enough to win much.

I tend to agree with recruiting certain kids just for who they are. Wilson certainly caused pain. My thought is do like FSU did with Treon, get the commit, use the recruiting boost and then gentle ease them away, or sign and then dump them the next year. We certainly cut kids loose for many reasons.

But I would add one tactic. Never offer a kid with a handler like Greron. Make it know that those kids will never get a offer from THE U. We seem to always lose out in those cases so we actually lose nothing, but if it starts to cut down on the number of kids these bloodsuckers get their hands on then it could be worth it.

I like Golden's camps, but I agree that shorts are not the way to pick kids. I fear our practices are not physical enough to pick starters from either. How do you know who hits or can take hits if there is no hitting?

 

[AllbouttheU]

Quincy cried like a ***** cuz we put S/LB on a sticker for him just think what would happen if we tried put him in a hybrid role here. Not worth the headache imo.

 

[marshallrc13]

D,

As always you are spot on and I enjoy your write ups! Thanks.

 

[LA'Cane818]

The Wilson thing I don't agree with. For all the pied piper talk, none of his boys ended up where he was. If you don't think Wilson can play then don't even bother. We'll see if their wrong on that evaluation but for now Mayes at least appears to be kid who wants it. Did everything he could to be an EE. No guarantees in life, but I get the feeling Quincy and his father would've surely been a pain in the *** if he was stuck behind other players for a year or two.

Signing Wilson wasn't just about 2014. The South Florida Express isn't going anywhere. Big-time kids like Sam Bruce are already parroting anti-Miami talk. These kids won't necessarily follow Wilson, but I'd rather them hear Miami propaganda than Miami hate.

More than anything, I'm just not a Mayes fan. I don't understand offering him and turning our nose up at Wilson.

The camps are more than about evaluating field skills, its a chance to get to know the kid and the kind of family he comes from. Chad and Quincy Wilson are the poster children of whats wrong with South Florida football. Golden wanted no part of it, and its an area I agree with him. The kid showed his true colors throughout the process. Not every kid will be Sean Taylor, but I would rather a good kid like Mayes get a shot to prove the naysayers than a total brat like Quincy Wilson get his way because he pitches a fit, folds his arms, sits indian style and wont go anywhere because he and his dad are pouting.

 

[User-4525]

There are two schools of thought with this recruiting class.

One group is disappointed because they know what this class could have been. These fans have lost faith in the staff’s ability to coach, so they believe we need superstar classes to compete with the big boys.

The second group is happy about the kids we actually signed and doesn’t worry about the misses. These fans have full faith in Golden and believe it’s only a matter of time before Miami is back on top.

This is just dumb. The vast majority of us are firmly in the middle of these two groups. The same few people from each group posting 50,000 times a day doesn't mean that those are the only two groups.

If we're so stubborn on size, why did we sign Berrios? Kinda shoots down the McKenzie argument, no? And come on, Dowels? Offers from Rutgers, Utah, Appalachian State, NIU, and Cuse? That's the kind of kid that this and previous staffs have gotten murdered for signing in the past.

Are you suggesting that Miami coaches start the rumors of kids getting paid because they can't admit defeat? You lose all credibility with me if that's the case.

How was Powell's defection a total ***** up?

It's a little contradictory to say that QB is the strongest position in the class, but the QB recruiting was 'clumsy' (I happen to agree with the latter, although that has nothing to do with Flowers or Treon).

I agree with the rest.

Dowels was Broward player of the year and got offered by A&M, Clemson, and Oklahoma. Nice for you to leave that out

 

[Ibis Wingz]

There are two schools of thought with this recruiting class.

One group is disappointed because they know what this class could have been. These fans have lost faith in the staff’s ability to coach, so they believe we need superstar classes to compete with the big boys.

The second group is happy about the kids we actually signed and doesn’t worry about the misses. These fans have full faith in Golden and believe it’s only a matter of time before Miami is back on top.

This is just dumb. The vast majority of us are firmly in the middle of these two groups. The same few people from each group posting 50,000 times a day doesn't mean that those are the only two groups.

If we're so stubborn on size, why did we sign Berrios? Kinda shoots down the McKenzie argument, no? And come on, Dowels? Offers from Rutgers, Utah, Appalachian State, NIU, and Cuse? That's the kind of kid that this and previous staffs have gotten murdered for signing in the past.

Are you suggesting that Miami coaches start the rumors of kids getting paid because they can't admit defeat? You lose all credibility with me if that's the case.

How was Powell's defection a total ***** up?

It's a little contradictory to say that QB is the strongest position in the class, but the QB recruiting was 'clumsy' (I happen to agree with the latter, although that has nothing to do with Flowers or Treon).

I agree with the rest.

Dowels was Broward player of the year and got offered by A&M, Clemson, and Oklahoma. Nice for you to leave that out

When the facts don't fit your argument, avoid the facts.

 

[itsacanething]

There are two schools of thought with this recruiting class.

One group is disappointed because they know what this class could have been. These fans have lost faith in the staff’s ability to coach, so they believe we need superstar classes to compete with the big boys.

The second group is happy about the kids we actually signed and doesn’t worry about the misses. These fans have full faith in Golden and believe it’s only a matter of time before Miami is back on top.

The truth, as always, is somewhere in the middle.

It’s impossible to ignore the mistakes that kept us from capitalizing on South Florida’s bumper crop. We lost head-to-head battles for Valentine, Sony, Cook, Dixon and Rudolph. Everybody has heard the money rumors, and there may be some truth there. But more often than not, these rumors come from highly competitive coaches who can’t admit defeat. We got beat on these guys.

We’re still stubborn on size. I thought we were done with this crap when Golden came in and offered Dallas Crawford. But this year, we turned down Juwon Dowels and Isaiah McKenzie simply because they were too small. That’s disappointing.

Brandon Powell’s defection was a total ***** up. No other way to put it.

We were clumsy in our QB recruiting after Kaaya. Before the season, I advocated offering Kaaya, Treon Harris and Winky Flowers. We ended up doing exactly that, except we waited too long to offer Treon and offered a similar out-of-state player (Rosier) instead of Winky. If we followed the right blueprint, we could’ve signed two of the best athletes in Miami.

We offered Ryan Mayes instead of taking a similar player (Quincy Wilson) with Canes blood and extensive connections to the local football community. Wilson is by no means a perfect prospect, but this move revealed two flaws in our approach: an inability to think big-picture and an overemphasis on the Golden Camp. We make too many decisions based on workouts in shirts and shorts.

Finally, the defensive scheme is the new “cloud.” High school coaches are talking about it and college coaches are using it against us. If the results don’t change, this will do even more damage than the NCAA ever could.

But even with all of these issues, I feel the same way that Coach Golden felt in his NSD press conference: confident and comfortable.

The word to describe this class is “healthy.” There is balance across the board. The two most important positions in football—quarterback and defensive line—are the strongest positions in the class. Kaaya is our biggest coup in years. We’ve accumulated a stable of talented and hungry pass-rushers. The offensive line is in terrific shape. Kiy Hester will provide safety depth right away, and Berrios will emerge as a Shockey-type fan favorite.

If Golden is the man for the job, he has enough to win with. If he’s not, the next guy will have a balanced roster without the gaping holes that Coker and Shannon left behind.

More than anything, I just love seeing kids like Demetrius Jackson and Trayon Gray shed tears for the colors. I don’t care if it’s corny. Last year was the roughest NSD in ages, but we will always remember Stacy Coley putting on the Swag hat. These guys will represent the Canes for the next few years and maybe the next decade in the pros. Forget about the coaches. That’s what this day is about.

Welcome to Miami, fellas. Let’s go get number six.

Golden has two to three years . Not one like many in here think. The NCAA mess bought him a fresh start

 

[MarcoD70]

The Wilson thing I don't agree with. For all the pied piper talk, none of his boys ended up where he was. If you don't think Wilson can play then don't even bother. We'll see if their wrong on that evaluation but for now Mayes at least appears to be kid who wants it. Did everything he could to be an EE. No guarantees in life, but I get the feeling Quincy and his father would've surely been a pain in the *** if he was stuck behind other players for a year or two.

Signing Wilson wasn't just about 2014. The South Florida Express isn't going anywhere. Big-time kids like Sam Bruce are already parroting anti-Miami talk. These kids won't necessarily follow Wilson, but I'd rather them hear Miami propaganda than Miami hate.

More than anything, I'm just not a Mayes fan. I don't understand offering him and turning our nose up at Wilson.

You mean another University School player has something to say? Not a shocking development. Wilson wants to play CB. If he was open to playing safety things would probably be different. He isn't, so he got no offer. What did Golden say about Mayes today? We'll start him out at CB but we might try him at safety. IF that was Wilson's attitude then he might be in this class. It wasn't so he isn't.

You bring the kids in and figure it out. The treon situation was the same thing. Offer him at QB if he doesn't make it then move him. Same could have been done with Wilson or any other recruit.

I think there was a genuine concern over backlash and bad press WHEN Harris and/or Wilson didn't make it at those chosen positions. This staff probably felt going this route was the lesser of two evils.