Listen, I'm gonna be real here for a minute.
We're all a bunch of damned hypocrites.
Whenever we are looking at an out-of-state kid and there is an interview with ol boy saying something about wanting to stay home, the threads are littered with jargon that may resemble the following:
"Stop sucking on your mother's teet and be a grown *** man!"
"Who wants to play in the snow? Come take your talents to Souf Beach!"
"Program ___________ has been crap for years! Have fun playing in the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl, loser!"
But here is a dose of reality.
- Miami sucks right now...we've been irrelevant nationally for **** near a decade.
- We are chin deep in the middle of an NCAA investigation and surely sanctions are coming down in some regard.
Both of those tell me, our brand is severely damaged not just nationally, but locally. Our relationships with local schools was damaged under the last two regimes.
- The SEC and other heavy hitters in the recruiting game smell blood in the water and considering their proximity to the "State of Miami" and the money they have available to them make them an active participant in any and all top players in the area, many times bidding against each other.
The way we need to get back in the game is simple.
Good ole fashioned hard work.
In the short term, the bad news is we are going to lose out on some heavy hitters locally. In that short term, the good news is South Florida is the most talent rich area in the country and even if you miss out on the super stud 5* kid that is going to be a Top 5 NFL Draft pick there is an All-Conference kid and future NFL player that is out there getting recruited by Purdue or Wake Forest or something that's 5 miles away.
That is why it is important to have yourself a top flight recruiter, evaluator, and coaching staff in place. We aren't going to get back to the top by winning ****ing contests with LSU and Alabama for NFL prospects. We'll lose out on 8 out of 10 players. We need to make sure that those 2 are studs, and that is down to being down for his city and his school. Think...Duke Johnson...or for you old heads, Lester Williams. Then you need to make sure you have a firm grasp on all of the other talent locally, regardless of size, speed, or any other SPARQ numbers, that they can play. This program was built on local boys being down for their city, their school regardless of anything else. Evaluate and coach up what you DO get, and worry less about what you don't get, and you'll be fine.
ShanCoker failed because they were awful eyes for talent and even worse at developing whatever talent they did have and the end result was a complete breakdown of the amazing culture that was developed at Miami. You gotta start re-building that culture and it'll start by getting those boys you don't expect Miami to grab since we haven't had to grab these types of kids in 30 years.
