Literally only a little more than a decade ago, we would have maybe 5 guys committed headed into the Al Golden Camps in July. And we'd be grabbing lowwww level 3 stars trying to fill up the class so we might have a shot for a handful of 4 stars and maybe 1 5 star every three classes. Coley brought in more discipline, but programmatically we were still operating like a BC or Ga Tech, not like an FSU,, much less a Clemson or Bama.
Richt finally got our recruiting going in 2016 with Paradise camp. But even then, we didn't develop those longterm relationships needed to close, and he had a small recruiting staff and no budget to get the national elites. Manny was a major step back, complete lightweight when it came to recruiting, which shocks me given he was at Mississippi State and Texas before. He should have known what a good recruiting program looks like. At the same time, NIL hadn't passed yet (summer 2021), and Miami was not a bag school unlike MissSU and UTx. So as much as I hated the choice, I also feel like Manny was set up to fail.
Then Mario arrived, NIL was a thing, the boosters and college committed to rebuilding the program, and the clouds parted. And in 3 short years, we are exiting July with a Top 10 class with 20 guys committed while still hunting big game. The change is so dramatic it's almost hard to believe.