South Florida Recruiting - An Outsider's Thoughts (long)

[Classic]

Always respect your opinion money. So if that is true how do we not get every tight end we want?

This thread is about South Florida kids and there just haven't been too many battles over South Florida TEs. The only one was O'Leary, and he was a unique recruit for a number of reasons.

We are looking good with the #1 TE in 2018, so hopefully we do a better job of selling the tradition to OOS blue-chippers.

If we lose Hogskins, that McKitty whiff is going to show.

 

[fivecent]

Always respect your opinion money. So if that is true how do we not get every tight end we want?

This thread is about South Florida kids and there just haven't been too many battles over South Florida TEs. The only one was O'Leary, and he was a unique recruit for a number of reasons.

We are looking good with the #1 TE in 2018, so hopefully we do a better job of selling the tradition to OOS blue-chippers.

This!!!

 

[gogeta4]

I think it boils down to this: South Florida athletes are basically professionals at the Pop Warner level. There is already free agency, high expectations, gambling and intense pressure. That carries on through high school.

There is a positive and negative to this. As college coaches will tell you, South Florida kids are the most hardened and tough competitors. They play early in college and in the NFL because they aren't blinded by the pressure or the talent. The negative is that South Florida kids make business decisions in choosing a college. That includes taking money, but it's deeper than that.

You need to win and you need to have a proven system. Why do you think UF is killing us in DB recruiting? They've proven that they can take talented defensive backs, utilize their talents and turn them into first round picks. We, on the other hand, wasted an NFL defensive backfield in 2013. Similarly, if you're the best WR in South Florida, there is pretty clear and established path to success at Alabama.

It takes time for Miami to re-establish its reputation. Once we make it clear that Miami is the best business decision, we will get the majority of elite South Florida kids.

I'm normally 100% with you on pretty much everything, but I just can't get completely on board with the whole "business decision" thing. I agree with the premise - especially that winning is the biggest factor - but if it were just a "business decision" issue (vis-a-vis the shortest path to the NFL), well, even our darkest years have produced legit NFL talent. You mention UF's DBs but in the last 2-3 years we've put Deon Bush, Tracy Howard, Ladarius Gunter, and Artie Burns in the league. Corn Elder is about to get paid big-time. **** Adrian Colbert might get drafted. And Bama WRs? Amari Cooper and Ridley or am I missing somebody? We just had Dorsett go in the 1st round. **** I think LaRon Byrd is still collecting a paycheck. And Stacy Coley is next up. Now if you mean "path to success" as in "scouts will evaluate Bama players higher than others because of their winning percentage and exposure" then I totally agree. But just based on the straight-up ability to put players in the NFL, even with a lousy on-field record, I still put UM up there with anybody.

i dont get the whole Bama gets the best s.fla wr thing and path to the nfl...when there is.....ONE...just one **** kid in Amari Cooper who has done it. And Cooper was a kid that came to BAMA pretty polished....Cooper would ve been a 1st-2nd round pick had he went to **** Syracuse.
Ridley hasnt been drafted or put on enough..and doesnt have pull in s.fla like that as he is a broward kid...and not a big big time name broward kid imo.

Its pretty simple..s.fla kids are bandwaggoners and wishy washy...they ride the wave...As we win you will see more of a pick up...BUT WE NEVER WILL LOCK DOWN THIS AREA AND KEEP EVERYBODY..Fact

We have done a good job at the optomist level/pop warner level since Golden and it has continued. As the coasches clinic to coach in my optomist league was actually mandatory and done by coach richt , thomas brown, Manny Diaz. Personally u could just walk up to them and talk to them..Richt advised of an open door poliocy and told us we can contact for anything including tickets...seem to be a hit in my optomist league...even with the haters (fans of uf,fsu, other coaches) being in attendance.

I do agree though with the op. The MIAMI offer seems to be entitled now to the kids..because apparently we are "down" and should offer everyone with a smidge of talent...according to the players, coaches, handlers....And like said even the committs ..are using it as a placer offer...we need to make that offer mean something...i could care less if were considered "late"..there is certain guys yes...we should offer before everyone...but **** throwing out offers...(see Dingle. Scott) when its like .>"ok i got the miami offer, i could post it on twitter now and say im Blessed"....

If not....Im fully on board with hitting other targeted areas.... (Jacksonville, Atl Metro, Tx (Kul, Banda), Louisiana, Cali) to supplement our losses in s.florida

 

[Marcelo2988]

You make some solid points, but I agree with many others that it comes down to winning.

We'll always have to battle for the elite guys down here and deal with the divas but if we're winning we'll start getting more studs.

I think it's that simple

 

[passitback]

Always respect your opinion money. So if that is true how do we not get every tight end we want?

This thread is about South Florida kids and there just haven't been too many battles over South Florida TEs. The only one was O'Leary, and he was a unique recruit for a number of reasons.

We are looking good with the #1 TE in 2018, so hopefully we do a better job of selling the tradition to OOS blue-chippers.

This!!!

Probably better off.

I know this will **** off the South Florida crew, but who ducking cares at this point?

We need talent. I don't care where it's from. It can be from every other state except Florida it results in wins.

 

[g8rh8rMD]

If not....Im fully on board with hitting other targeted areas.... (Jacksonville, Atl Metro, Tx (Kul, Banda), Louisiana, Cali) to supplement our losses in s.florida

This right here. The kids we are getting out of Jacksonville lately have been BEASTS and NO DRAMA. Lock that area down and make it UM territory. I know it's always gonna lean Gator, but the talent coming out of there is only going to increase as that town grows.

 

[User-4525]

I think it boils down to this: South Florida athletes are basically professionals at the Pop Warner level. There is already free agency, high expectations, gambling and intense pressure. That carries on through high school.

There is a positive and negative to this. As college coaches will tell you, South Florida kids are the most hardened and tough competitors. They play early in college and in the NFL because they aren't blinded by the pressure or the talent. The negative is that South Florida kids make business decisions in choosing a college. That includes taking money, but it's deeper than that.

You need to win and you need to have a proven system. Why do you think UF is killing us in DB recruiting? They've proven that they can take talented defensive backs, utilize their talents and turn them into first round picks. We, on the other hand, wasted an NFL defensive backfield in 2013. Similarly, if you're the best WR in South Florida, there is pretty clear and established path to success at Alabama.

It takes time for Miami to re-establish its reputation. Once we make it clear that Miami is the best business decision, we will get the majority of elite South Florida kids.

The issue with this is that we should already see some bump in defensive back recruiting based on what our defense showed this year. 2013 was 2013. A different staff and, to some of these kids, a different time period altogether. I concede we're picking up, to name only a few, guys like DJ Johnson, Garvin, Steed (who I think would come here anyway?), I expect Dean and I think Deejay Dallas is a CB (as we've discussed), but we've missed on some Safeties who could have really helped. And, it doesn't make a ton of sense to me given the momentum and evidence behind where our defense is going.

Now, if what you're saying is it needs more time to crystalize in the minds of some of these prospects, I guess we'll wait and see. Problem is Manny Diaz may or may not be around by then. Then we have a different problem.

I'll remain concerned that we seem to have to work 4x as hard on virtually everything. Tough to win that way in today's competitive environment.

I hate to applaud uf for anything, but why should we expect to Dbs over uf right now.

1. Uf has two kids projected higher than corn elder (doesn't make it true but that's the perception held by many)
2. Our two db coaches have 0 players in the league compared to uf's db coach who has multiple kids there
3. Soflo Dbs look up to Quincy Wilson like mark Walton & yearby looked up to duke johnson. Unfournately for us corn came from tenn

Corn will be help, but it's goin take a little time to catch up.

 

[LuCane]

I think it boils down to this: South Florida athletes are basically professionals at the Pop Warner level. There is already free agency, high expectations, gambling and intense pressure. That carries on through high school.

There is a positive and negative to this. As college coaches will tell you, South Florida kids are the most hardened and tough competitors. They play early in college and in the NFL because they aren't blinded by the pressure or the talent. The negative is that South Florida kids make business decisions in choosing a college. That includes taking money, but it's deeper than that.

You need to win and you need to have a proven system. Why do you think UF is killing us in DB recruiting? They've proven that they can take talented defensive backs, utilize their talents and turn them into first round picks. We, on the other hand, wasted an NFL defensive backfield in 2013. Similarly, if you're the best WR in South Florida, there is pretty clear and established path to success at Alabama.

It takes time for Miami to re-establish its reputation. Once we make it clear that Miami is the best business decision, we will get the majority of elite South Florida kids.

The issue with this is that we should already see some bump in defensive back recruiting based on what our defense showed this year. 2013 was 2013. A different staff and, to some of these kids, a different time period altogether. I concede we're picking up, to name only a few, guys like DJ Johnson, Garvin, Steed (who I think would come here anyway?), I expect Dean and I think Deejay Dallas is a CB (as we've discussed), but we've missed on some Safeties who could have really helped. And, it doesn't make a ton of sense to me given the momentum and evidence behind where our defense is going.

Now, if what you're saying is it needs more time to crystalize in the minds of some of these prospects, I guess we'll wait and see. Problem is Manny Diaz may or may not be around by then. Then we have a different problem.

I'll remain concerned that we seem to have to work 4x as hard on virtually everything. Tough to win that way in today's competitive environment.

I hate to applaud uf for anything, but why should we expect to Dbs over uf right now.

1. Uf has two kids projected higher than corn elder (doesn't make it true but that's the perception held by many)
2. Our two db coaches have 0 players in the league compared to uf's db coach who has multiple kids there
3. Soflo Dbs look up to Quincy Wilson like mark Walton & yearby looked up to duke johnson. Unfournately for us corn came from tenn

Corn will be help, but it's goin take a little time to catch up.

Because if you've played DB at any level, you understand you are, most of the time, a product of your system and your DL. It's our job to sell that effectively.

 

[Astcloud11]

I think it boils down to this: South Florida athletes are basically professionals at the Pop Warner level. There is already free agency, high expectations, gambling and intense pressure. That carries on through high school.

There is a positive and negative to this. As college coaches will tell you, South Florida kids are the most hardened and tough competitors. They play early in college and in the NFL because they aren't blinded by the pressure or the talent. The negative is that South Florida kids make business decisions in choosing a college. That includes taking money, but it's deeper than that.

You need to win and you need to have a proven system. Why do you think UF is killing us in DB recruiting? They've proven that they can take talented defensive backs, utilize their talents and turn them into first round picks. We, on the other hand, wasted an NFL defensive backfield in 2013. Similarly, if you're the best WR in South Florida, there is pretty clear and established path to success at Alabama.

It takes time for Miami to re-establish its reputation. Once we make it clear that Miami is the best business decision, we will get the majority of elite South Florida kids.

The issue with this is that we should already see some bump in defensive back recruiting based on what our defense showed this year. 2013 was 2013. A different staff and, to some of these kids, a different time period altogether. I concede we're picking up, to name only a few, guys like DJ Johnson, Garvin, Steed (who I think would come here anyway?), I expect Dean and I think Deejay Dallas is a CB (as we've discussed), but we've missed on some Safeties who could have really helped. And, it doesn't make a ton of sense to me given the momentum and evidence behind where our defense is going.

Now, if what you're saying is it needs more time to crystalize in the minds of some of these prospects, I guess we'll wait and see. Problem is Manny Diaz may or may not be around by then. Then we have a different problem.

I'll remain concerned that we seem to have to work 4x as hard on virtually everything. Tough to win that way in today's competitive environment.

I hate to applaud uf for anything, but why should we expect to Dbs over uf right now.

1. Uf has two kids projected higher than corn elder (doesn't make it true but that's the perception held by many)
2. Our two db coaches have 0 players in the league compared to uf's db coach who has multiple kids there
3. Soflo Dbs look up to Quincy Wilson like mark Walton & yearby looked up to duke johnson. Unfournately for us corn came from tenn

Corn will be help, but it's goin take a little time to catch up.

Because if you've played DB at any level, you understand you are, most of the time, a product of your system and your DL. It's our job to sell that effectively.

This is the 2nd year UF had this DB coach...they fired the other guy

 

[NorthEastCane]

You make some solid points, but I agree with many others that it comes down to winning.

We'll always have to battle for the elite guys down here and deal with the divas but if we're winning we'll start getting more studs.

I think it's that simple

I don't know. It's easy to say we have to start winning. But IMO, it begins with evaluation and development. We have evaluate players and selectively recruit those with skills that match our needs even if they are still nascent and not fully realized. Then we have to develop them. We do that, the wins will come. We establish that as a pattern, recruits will make the "business decision" and also come. That's always been our MO. Since Coker, we've gotten away from that while we were chasing stars.

And I get that in this internet age there are few unknown gems. Andre Johnson and Sean Taylor are not going to appear out of no where as lowly 3*s. But they are out there. On the margins, between rankings, there's always kids that are mis-ranked. But as LU said, we have to work harder (or differently) to find them.

Just look at last years class. Not a single 5* among them. Pinckney and Jackson were 3*s. Quatermain and McCloud were 4*s. Even Richards, a 4* that was not listed in the top ten nationwide. Yet, they had the skills that matched our needs and in less than a year, they all developed into players. That has to become the standard, not the exception. Then we can have something to recruit with.

 

[NJcane55]

Jalen hurts was born in 98 as im watching the leadup to the nc game it made me think these kids dont have a clue about miami hurricane football outside the espn 30 for 30's i think winning will help us bigtime!!!!

 

[NorthEastCane]

Jalen hurts was born in 98 as im watching the leadup to the nc game it made me think these kids dont have a clue about miami hurricane football outside the espn 30 for 30's i think winning will help us bigtime!!!!

It will get their attention, but if So Fl recruits are as mercenary as they appear, it will have to be more than that. It was the string of 4 #1 draft picks, followed by 5, followed by 4 more, that did it. And better would be if showed these guys played above their apparent high school ranking.

I remember well how we leveraged those years recruiting wise. We became star whores. Remember the WR class of 2002, the DB class of 2003, the RB class of 2004. All highly ranked. Was the "talent advantage" sustainable? How did it work out for us?

 

[Canes_]

I don't think the kids are the issue. Sure there is drama but that's to be expected with all the media exposure these kids get now, along with how heavily recruited the area is. You see similar "drama" out here in SoCal, it is to a lesser extent but USC/UCLA have little to no comp for kids and it still happens.

It's not like we are lighting up OOS recruiting - we have two 4 stars and I believe one was a former UGA commit (Dallas) and the other has family that are big time UM fans (Johnson). So two favorable recruitments...

Our current recruiting issues go beyond the attitude of South Florida kids. The composition of the staff just doesn't elicit any sort of recruiting confidence. We have inexperienced coaches with little to no track record (Hartley, Brown, Rumph, Banda, Richt), experienced coaches that are average at best (Dugans, Searels), and a stud DL coach. Baez has been one of our best recruiters and he's support staff

Honestly looking at that staff, USC and Bama might be the only schools that group would be able to recruit elite kids to.

With a decade long run of mediocrity on the field we sure as **** aren't in a position to be trotting out a bunch of no name coaches with no juice and expecting to land big fish

 

[Coach Macho]

Kinda crazy when you think about the fact that most of our best/most important players right now are from outside of the Dade/Broward lines.

1. Corn
2. Pinckney
3. Richards
4. Njoku
5. Kaaya
6. Norton
7. Jenkins
8. Shaq
9. Herndon


That's all fine and dandy but we cannot make a living like that. It's okay to supplement kids from other areas. We've always done that. But we still need to get a hold of South FLA recruiting to build quality depth. We need to identify kids that can legitimately play in the ACC and sign those kids. They don't all have to hold offers from Bama, UF, FSU, etc. Golden was TERRIBLE at this. He'd ignore kids that had offers from Clemson, Pitt, UNC, Syracuse, VT, etc...to sign a kid who's best offer came from Akron.

You need to recruit like you wanna win the ACC first. Then once you start dominating the ACC, you become highly ranked which makes it easier to recruit the big-time kids. South Florida kids are all around the country right now making plays for other universities. We didn't recruit some of these kids cause they were an inch too short or 12 pounds too light. Well we're in no place to turn down great players because of minor shortcomings. We can do that when we become a top-10 team but right now we need to stockpile ACC level talent for depth purposes. Kids like Juwan Dowels, Chris Lammons or Ronnie Hoggins should be covering kicks for us and contributing in our Nickel/Dime packages. They might not be future NFL players but you don't NEED a bunch of future NFL players to win the ACC and start improving your rank and national image.

By no means am I saying sign a bunch of lower tier guys. I'm talking about the kids who have offers from the like of South Carolina, Tennessee and the majority of the prominent ACC schools. You can win the ACC with kids like this, along with some big-name kids sprinkled in. That's how Clemson got to where they are today. That's how Louisville came up when Strong was there.

 

[Torocane]

Kinda crazy when you think about the fact that most of our best/most important players right now are from outside of the Dade/Broward lines.

1. Corn
2. Pinckney
3. Richards
4. Njoku
5. Kaaya
6. Norton
7. Jenkins
8. Shaq
9. Herndon


That's all fine and dandy but we cannot make a living like that. It's okay to supplement kids from other areas. We've always done that. But we still need to get a hold of South FLA recruiting to build quality depth. We need to identify kids that can legitimately play in the ACC and sign those kids. They don't all have to hold offers from Bama, UF, FSU, etc. Golden was TERRIBLE at this. He'd ignore kids that had offers from Clemson, Pitt, UNC, Syracuse, VT, etc...to sign a kid who's best offer came from Akron.

You need to recruit like you wanna win the ACC first. Then once you start dominating the ACC, you become highly ranked which makes it easier to recruit the big-time kids. South Florida kids are all around the country right now making plays for other universities. We didn't recruit some of these kids cause they were an inch too short or 12 pounds too light. Well we're in no place to turn down great players because of minor shortcomings. We can do that when we become a top-10 team but right now we need to stockpile ACC level talent for depth purposes. Kids like Juwan Dowels, Chris Lammons or Ronnie Hoggins should be covering kicks for us and contributing in our Nickel/Dime packages. They might not be future NFL players but you don't NEED a bunch of future NFL players to win the ACC and start improving your rank and national image.

By no means am I saying sign a bunch of lower tier guys. I'm talking about the kids who have offers from the like of South Carolina, Tennessee and the majority of the prominent ACC schools. You can win the ACC with kids like this, along with some big-name kids sprinkled in. That's how Clemson got to where they are today. That's how Louisville came up when Strong was there.

Well said. Can't disagree.

 

[LuCane]

Kinda crazy when you think about the fact that most of our best/most important players right now are from outside of the Dade/Broward lines.

1. Corn
2. Pinckney
3. Richards
4. Njoku
5. Kaaya
6. Norton
7. Jenkins
8. Shaq
9. Herndon


That's all fine and dandy but we cannot make a living like that. It's okay to supplement kids from other areas. We've always done that. But we still need to get a hold of South FLA recruiting to build quality depth. We need to identify kids that can legitimately play in the ACC and sign those kids. They don't all have to hold offers from Bama, UF, FSU, etc. Golden was TERRIBLE at this. He'd ignore kids that had offers from Clemson, Pitt, UNC, Syracuse, VT, etc...to sign a kid who's best offer came from Akron.

You need to recruit like you wanna win the ACC first. Then once you start dominating the ACC, you become highly ranked which makes it easier to recruit the big-time kids. South Florida kids are all around the country right now making plays for other universities. We didn't recruit some of these kids cause they were an inch too short or 12 pounds too light. Well we're in no place to turn down great players because of minor shortcomings. We can do that when we become a top-10 team but right now we need to stockpile ACC level talent for depth purposes. Kids like Juwan Dowels, Chris Lammons or Ronnie Hoggins should be covering kicks for us and contributing in our Nickel/Dime packages. They might not be future NFL players but you don't NEED a bunch of future NFL players to win the ACC and start improving your rank and national image.

By no means am I saying sign a bunch of lower tier guys. I'm talking about the kids who have offers from the like of South Carolina, Tennessee and the majority of the prominent ACC schools. You can win the ACC with kids like this, along with some big-name kids sprinkled in. That's how Clemson got to where they are today. That's how Louisville came up when Strong was there.

Pinkney is really a dade guy, wouldn't you say? Agree on the rest and the general point.

 

[CaneMonster]

UM has shown a lot of love to the local guys. Golden showed them love too. They camp at Miami get their first offers from us and still act like other universities are better for them. Many of these kids want to leave the area to play football and that has happened even when we was great. It's South Florida get used to it.

 

[Andrew]

We need to determine what type of identity we want our team to have and recruit to that. Alabama and Clemson do this very well. There is obviously a lot of talent from south Florida and we need to land those recruits, but we need to be ready to go get someone else if that doesn't pan out. I am watching a National Championship game with very few players from the state of Florida, so I think we can occasionally go out of state and get what we need. The worse part of our team this year was our OL and they are mostly from FL. I rather have an Art Kehoe Canadian OL than our current one.

Miami has the type of defensive players they want to run Diaz defense. Our DL isn't there yet, but with guys like Joe Jackson and the work Kool does I think we will be fine. It is also great to have 3 linebackers all with Alabama size.

Looking at our offense is where we have the most issues. Our OL isn't good at run or pass blocking and frankly were mostly overrated coming out of HS. Richt needs to implement a fast pace offensive with zone read elements. Our WR and RB aren't built for power, I guess the pop warner leagues are all about speed. Let's recruit a dual threat QB with size and have him run a past pace offense with passes to RB, WR and TE and sprinkle in the QB runs. We won't out Alabama the Crimson Tide, but we can out Clemson the Tigers and do it at a level to beat Alabama.

 

[Coach Macho]

Kinda crazy when you think about the fact that most of our best/most important players right now are from outside of the Dade/Broward lines.

1. Corn
2. Pinckney
3. Richards
4. Njoku
5. Kaaya
6. Norton
7. Jenkins
8. Shaq
9. Herndon


That's all fine and dandy but we cannot make a living like that. It's okay to supplement kids from other areas. We've always done that. But we still need to get a hold of South FLA recruiting to build quality depth. We need to identify kids that can legitimately play in the ACC and sign those kids. They don't all have to hold offers from Bama, UF, FSU, etc. Golden was TERRIBLE at this. He'd ignore kids that had offers from Clemson, Pitt, UNC, Syracuse, VT, etc...to sign a kid who's best offer came from Akron.

You need to recruit like you wanna win the ACC first. Then once you start dominating the ACC, you become highly ranked which makes it easier to recruit the big-time kids. South Florida kids are all around the country right now making plays for other universities. We didn't recruit some of these kids cause they were an inch too short or 12 pounds too light. Well we're in no place to turn down great players because of minor shortcomings. We can do that when we become a top-10 team but right now we need to stockpile ACC level talent for depth purposes. Kids like Juwan Dowels, Chris Lammons or Ronnie Hoggins should be covering kicks for us and contributing in our Nickel/Dime packages. They might not be future NFL players but you don't NEED a bunch of future NFL players to win the ACC and start improving your rank and national image.

By no means am I saying sign a bunch of lower tier guys. I'm talking about the kids who have offers from the like of South Carolina, Tennessee and the majority of the prominent ACC schools. You can win the ACC with kids like this, along with some big-name kids sprinkled in. That's how Clemson got to where they are today. That's how Louisville came up when Strong was there.

Pinkney is really a dade guy, wouldn't you say? Agree on the rest and the general point.

Oh I don't know. I thought he was from up the road.

 

[Brooklyndee]

Let me preface this post by first saying I no longer live in South Florida, I'm not tied in to the University or recruiting in any way other than as a fan who follows, so my opinion may be worth no more than a cold bag of dog crap. That said, I'ma give my opinion anyway based only on what I've gathered/read/opined on over the last 10+ recruiting cycles. Feel free to ignore or downvote this thread as you see fit.




Amid all the speculation about what it will take for Miami to truly be "back" again, the one constant theme has always been: "We have to keep the local studs home." And every year it seems that there is some kind of...drama isn't even the right word...MELODRAMA is better... with not just the elite athletes, but nearly every player, coach, parent, handler, posse, crew, distant relative, etc. in the Tri-County region. This is not to say we don't get our share, but for every Mark Walton there's a Brandon Powell or Alex Collins, for every Ahmmon Richards there's a Jerry Jeudy or Trevon Grimes.

I won't sit here and pretend that the issues with our ability to recruit our home base effectively aren't tied in some way to on-field performance. It's certainly no coincidence that a mediocre ACC Coastal team is going to have a difficult time recruiting. And yet I believe the issues with Miami's South Florida recruiting go deeper than just "win and they'll come," and I'd like to address at least some of the larger elephants in the room.

1) There is a deeply ingrained culture of entitlement within the South Florida athletic community. All athletes - ****, most young people in general - have a certain degree of entitlement. Yet it seems it's worse with South Florida athletes. Why? Part of it I believe is that these kids are SURROUNDED by entitlement from the time they show any type of talent at the Pop Warner level - parents, coaches, "handlers", friends are all looking for their cut, and so these kids grow up knowing nothing else. As such, to many in the South Florida community, an offer from the hometown Hurricanes is simply a given, not a privilege. Coaches expect UM to offer every one of their players sight-unseen, and if they don't, well then they'll take their talents elsewhere. Offer too early and it's a "placeholder" offer giving them free license to look elsewhere (Billy Gibson.) Offer too late and we're not showing enough "love" (Skai Moore.) Offer the kid but not his cousin/brother/sister? Forget it. Certainly there are mitigating circumstances for each athlete - Moore should have been offered much earlier, for example - and no coach is perfect, but it seems more and more like South Florida athletes and their "networks" are just looking for reasons to crap on the hometown team, which leads me to my next point...

2) It's cool to disrespect the University of Miami. I live in Northeast Alabama now, and you can bet your a$$ that to kids down here, an Alabama offer is a freakin' Golden Ticket (in more ways than one for some, I'm sure...) For teams like Bama, Michigan, Ohio State, Texas, Georgia, USC, Va. Tech, even Pitt or Penn State, the hometown team usually rules the roost. Not so in South Florida. Some of that is again because Miami hasn't been good in over decade, but that doesn't fully explain kids rushing to play for Tennessee or South Carolina or Oregon when they could stay home. What I've seen from this area that goes along with that sense of entitlement is the idea that it's somehow cool to "play" the University of Miami. Like, "yeah I got that UM offer - even told the coaches I'm coming - but wasn't it hilarious when I threw their hat on the ground and picked Florida on national television? Did y'all see that? What a hoot." And sometimes it's done with the full support of coaches/parents/handlers.

3) "Resources." $$$. Bagmen. Whatever you want to call it. Am I jaded enough to think every recruit we lose is bought and paid for? Of course not (see my first two points.) Do I think every team with championship aspirations has an under-the-table program for recruiting? **** yes. And the grim reality is, the University of Miami can't afford to play that game on the same level as other schools. We can't afford it from a money perspective, and we can't afford it from a personnel perspective either. For one, Miami for whatever BS reasons will always be an easy sacrifice for the NCAA and its SEC-fronting cronies. For another, because of Points #1 and #2 above, we don't have the kind of booster/coach/bagman "loyalty" that other programs have. There are people out there that would literally fall on an actual sword if Nick Saban asked them to. I've met some of them at Wal-Mart. We don't have that here.

4) We've been a bad-to-mediocre football team since 2002. I've touched on this in my other points, but the fact remains that "the U" hasn't been "back" for 15 years, and hasn't even been good for a decade. Bad coaching, bad recruiting, bad facilities, bad culture all lead to a bad on-field product and recruits not only know it, they've grown up with it since grade school.


We've seen these phenomena played out over and over again through four different coaching staffs - Coker, Shannon, Golden, and now Richt. One could even argue that Butch Davis had similar issues - his genius has always been as a brilliant evaluator of the deep talent pool, not necessarily as a high-profile star recruiter... Regardless, the issue of local recruiting has been a thorn in every coach's side since the recruiting game has turned into the national circus it is now. So what, if anything, can be done? I don't have the answers, but here are my thoughts on how best to stem the tide:

1) Win. Winning games won't cure the culture, it won't make kids less entitled, it won't stop the money from flowing. What it will do is lend UM and its coaching staff at least a little credibility in its recruiting pitches and maybe make those high-profile recruits think twice about staying home before they rush off to who-knows-where. Miami HAS to start winning the ACC on a regular basis in order to even be in the conversation for many of these kids - Tennessee can afford to lose 4-5 games every year and still draw recruits, Miami cannot.

2) Invest in every aspect of the South Florida athletic community. From Pop Warner on up, Miami has to start building relationships - not just with high school coaches, but with kids, parents, handlers, and crew alike. I don't like it - nobody likes it - but keeping kids home means we have to start dealing head-on with some of the more unpleasant aspects of South Florida athletics. Host football camps for nine-year olds, hold "coaching clinics" for local coaches, handlers, and "crew members." Have a potluck for parents. Anything and everything. It should be noted that Richt and Company are already starting to do these things.

3) On the flip side, be willing to draw a line in the sand once those relationships are built. Try to mitigate the games and nonsense - you won't eliminate them, but be savvy enough to know how and when to drop a recruit, and what the long-term effects may be. Be invested in the TOTAL recruit - not just their 40 time or even their GPA but their family, their support system, their upbringing, their mental and emotional makeup, and do it early enough to minimize those "signing day surprises." There are ways to play the game without sacrificing principle - find them.

4) Continue to upgrade facilities and support staff. Facilities are self-explanatory. As much as we scoff at "power moves" like Baez and Cooley, they're a step in the right direction. Finding room for guys who are "plugged in" and can help build those relationships EARLY is always a good thing. And that doesn't necessarily mean hiring high school COACHES - as we've seen, that doesn't always hold the same weight as it would in say Georgia or Texas.


There's no easy path to keeping the best recruits home. I'm not even saying that any of my ideas will actually work (other than maybe, y'know, winning games...) And there will always be kids that get away for a myriad of reasons. You really can't win them all - but we have to start winning more than we lose in order to seriously compete for titles.

Just my .02.

We all understand the PAST, the confusion seems to set in when yall try to differentiate between the past & the present. The past is irrelevant. This staff has nothing to do with the failures of the previous ten years. The only thing true to this is kids wanna see were back to competing. That'll be further drilled in this coming year. We don't need all the negative reminders.just let them do there jobs & sit back & enjoy.