2019 Carol City (FL) DT Denzel Daxon decommitted from the Hurricanes on Sunday night/Monday morning.
The 6-1, 315-pounder is currently a consensus 3-star in the national rankings. Daxon is ranked #593 overall, the #40 DT prospect, and the #79 player in the Sunshine State. His decommitment moves Miami’s 2019 class down to #19 overall in 247Sports’ team rankings, while moving UM down to #20 overall on Rivals.
Background
Daxon had been on UM’s commit list since October 2017, but as we’ve been reporting for a few months now, the relationship between the parties has been deteriorating for quite some time. New D-Line coach Jess Simpson had barely been in contact with Daxon since he was hired in March, and contact completely fell off the last four months or so. Sources told CIS that Simpson saw Daxon as a “one trick pony”, referring to Daxon propensity to overly rely on his bull-rush, and Simpson did not feel he was technically advanced enough to keep in the class. Also, Daxon had not been showing up to many of Miami’s off-season events; sources told CIS that not showing up to Paradise Camp last weekend (he was invited) was his way of unofficially leaving the class after UM had barely been in contact for months.
Future of the Class
Daxon's decommitment brings the total class numbers to 16 and leaves the Canes with St. Thomas Aquinas (FL) 3-star Jason Munoz and Buford (GA) 3-star Jalar Holley at DT in Surge19. As a die-hard Cane, Munoz’s pledge seems like one of the most solid in the class and Holley just committed last weekend after Paradise Camp, so he is a firm pledge as well.
The Canes just signed 2 DT’s in a 2018 class where they could have easily taken 4, so DT has become a huge need in 2019. With two of Miami’s DT’s also set to graduate in 2018, taking three DT’s this cycle is almost necessary, with four not out of the question.
So who could be next to hop on board? At the top of the list would be St. Thomas Aquinas (FL) 4-star Braylen Ingraham, who is a bit of a swingman as a jumbo end/defensive tackle hybrid that will likely take the RJ McIntosh and Patrick Bethel route and grow into a defensive tackle at the next level. Manny Diaz and Jess Simpson love his potential as an interior guy and the staff is feeling good about their chances to eventually land Ingraham, who has named Miami his public leader multiple times. Alabama is also making a push here.
FSU commit and Lehigh Acres (FL) 4-star Quashon Fuller has probably flirted with Miami a lot, coming to campus multiple times during the off-season and showing up for "Miami Nights". The Canes will keep their foot on the gas with him and, with family in the Miami area, Fuller has a real chance of flipping to UM. However, after slow playing him for a few months, FSU has picked up their pursuit of Fuller again lately and it will be tough to pull him from Tallahassee. A source told CIS that a big deciding factor for Fuller will be how the season’s play out for the respective teams and that the D-Lineman wants to see if Willie Taggart can make some noise in the ACC this year. A similar down year for the Seminoles and another big year for Miami would likely get Fuller to flip.
American Heritage B/D (FL) 4-star Mike Morris is an FSU commit and legacy, but the talk with him is new head coach Willie Taggart is not pushing to keep Morris in the class and the parties’ relationship has been harmed because of this. However, Miami is also cooling on him and Morris is will likely choose the third school in his top 3, Michigan, very soon.
A recent offer just went out to Poly Prep (NY) 3-star Jason Blissett, who came down to Paradise Camp and impressed the coaching staff in-person to land the scholarship. With offers from schools like Texas A&M, Baylor, and Boston College on his resume, Blissett hasn’t been the most highly recruited prospect, but he also doesn’t get much visibility playing up in New York, which is not known for their football. Simpson has actually been evaluating him since the spring and fell in love with his game at Paradise Camp. You have to like that the staff is getting kids on campus and going after the ones they evaluate live.
Elsewhere, Largo (FL) 4-star Jaquaze Sorrells and Wekiva (FL) 4-star Tyler Davis had been high priorities for UM for a while. However, it seems contact with Sorrells has really fallen off lately and, although Davis made a summer visit, he feels destined for FSU at this time. I don’t expect either to end up at Miami barring a drastic change.
The 6-1, 315-pounder is currently a consensus 3-star in the national rankings. Daxon is ranked #593 overall, the #40 DT prospect, and the #79 player in the Sunshine State. His decommitment moves Miami’s 2019 class down to #19 overall in 247Sports’ team rankings, while moving UM down to #20 overall on Rivals.
Background
Daxon had been on UM’s commit list since October 2017, but as we’ve been reporting for a few months now, the relationship between the parties has been deteriorating for quite some time. New D-Line coach Jess Simpson had barely been in contact with Daxon since he was hired in March, and contact completely fell off the last four months or so. Sources told CIS that Simpson saw Daxon as a “one trick pony”, referring to Daxon propensity to overly rely on his bull-rush, and Simpson did not feel he was technically advanced enough to keep in the class. Also, Daxon had not been showing up to many of Miami’s off-season events; sources told CIS that not showing up to Paradise Camp last weekend (he was invited) was his way of unofficially leaving the class after UM had barely been in contact for months.
Future of the Class
Daxon's decommitment brings the total class numbers to 16 and leaves the Canes with St. Thomas Aquinas (FL) 3-star Jason Munoz and Buford (GA) 3-star Jalar Holley at DT in Surge19. As a die-hard Cane, Munoz’s pledge seems like one of the most solid in the class and Holley just committed last weekend after Paradise Camp, so he is a firm pledge as well.
The Canes just signed 2 DT’s in a 2018 class where they could have easily taken 4, so DT has become a huge need in 2019. With two of Miami’s DT’s also set to graduate in 2018, taking three DT’s this cycle is almost necessary, with four not out of the question.
So who could be next to hop on board? At the top of the list would be St. Thomas Aquinas (FL) 4-star Braylen Ingraham, who is a bit of a swingman as a jumbo end/defensive tackle hybrid that will likely take the RJ McIntosh and Patrick Bethel route and grow into a defensive tackle at the next level. Manny Diaz and Jess Simpson love his potential as an interior guy and the staff is feeling good about their chances to eventually land Ingraham, who has named Miami his public leader multiple times. Alabama is also making a push here.
FSU commit and Lehigh Acres (FL) 4-star Quashon Fuller has probably flirted with Miami a lot, coming to campus multiple times during the off-season and showing up for "Miami Nights". The Canes will keep their foot on the gas with him and, with family in the Miami area, Fuller has a real chance of flipping to UM. However, after slow playing him for a few months, FSU has picked up their pursuit of Fuller again lately and it will be tough to pull him from Tallahassee. A source told CIS that a big deciding factor for Fuller will be how the season’s play out for the respective teams and that the D-Lineman wants to see if Willie Taggart can make some noise in the ACC this year. A similar down year for the Seminoles and another big year for Miami would likely get Fuller to flip.
American Heritage B/D (FL) 4-star Mike Morris is an FSU commit and legacy, but the talk with him is new head coach Willie Taggart is not pushing to keep Morris in the class and the parties’ relationship has been harmed because of this. However, Miami is also cooling on him and Morris is will likely choose the third school in his top 3, Michigan, very soon.
A recent offer just went out to Poly Prep (NY) 3-star Jason Blissett, who came down to Paradise Camp and impressed the coaching staff in-person to land the scholarship. With offers from schools like Texas A&M, Baylor, and Boston College on his resume, Blissett hasn’t been the most highly recruited prospect, but he also doesn’t get much visibility playing up in New York, which is not known for their football. Simpson has actually been evaluating him since the spring and fell in love with his game at Paradise Camp. You have to like that the staff is getting kids on campus and going after the ones they evaluate live.
Elsewhere, Largo (FL) 4-star Jaquaze Sorrells and Wekiva (FL) 4-star Tyler Davis had been high priorities for UM for a while. However, it seems contact with Sorrells has really fallen off lately and, although Davis made a summer visit, he feels destined for FSU at this time. I don’t expect either to end up at Miami barring a drastic change.
