Miami Hurricanes Recruiting Intel: Five-Star DE Visits, Key Targets & Official Visit Preview | May 29-31, 2025
The Bank: D$ Intel Series
4 min read
Official visit season starts tomorrow, and the Canes are in a healthy position. As it stands, they have the #4 class on the Composite with 15 commits and a 92.90 average recruit rating. Now it's time to push it over the top. Here is the latest.
- There has been a lot of talk about numbers with this class. In the past, the discussion was always about scholarships. Now, it's salary. I expect the Canes to keep this class relatively small (20 players) in terms of NIL guys. That will give the staff flexibility to retain a loaded roster. They want a chance to develop their own young players.
But that doesn't mean they will only bring in 20 high school players. Don't be surprised if the Canes snatch some G5 prospects with limited NIL and full scholarships. This staff values senior film immensely and never stops evaluating.
- The story of this recruiting class right now is defensive end. If I had to place a wager, I'd bet on the Canes landing one of DJ Jacobs (Atlanta, GA) and Jaiden Bryant (Columbia, SC). Bryant is visiting this weekend and we remain in communication with Jacobs. The staff has prioritized the position, Jason Taylor's track record is established, and both five-stars have made multiple visits. There is an outside possibility, although not likely, that we could land both.
- Position-wise, I think the last spots will look something like this (in no order): DE, DT, LB, S, WR.
- The Canes would love to close the deal with WR Eli Woodard (Temecula, CA) this weekend. They have a chance to do so. They also love WR Tre Moore (Austin, TX). I could see this wrapping up soon one way or the other.
- At DT, the staff is eager to get an in-person look at DT DeMarco Jenkins (Houston, TX). Damione Lewis, a fellow Texan, is a huge advocate for Jenkins. This could move fast if the visit goes well.
- The LB board is the most wide-open on the team, aside from AJ Randle (Raleigh, NC). We have four linebackers scheduled to visit this week (Randle, Kaden Henderson, Noah Glover and Jalaythan Mayfield) one next week (Drew Williams) and one the following week (Aston Whiteside). Of all the remaining positions, this is the most unclear.
- The top target at safety appears to be Andre Hyppolyte (North Miami Beach). Jeff Bertani is the longest-tenured HS coach in Miami with a long history of NFL players, especially at defensive back. Those names include Kemal Ishmael (95 NFL games), EJ Biggers (92 NFL games), Johnathan Cyprien (79 NFL games) and Louis Delmas (78 NFL games). Coach Cristobal has tremendous respect for Bertani, and he coached Cyprien at FIU. Bertani speaks extremely highly about Hyppolyte, who is also playing QB this year.
Loia Valade (West Boca) is a good player but I don't think his price point made sense as a box safety. He is no longer visiting and not expected to reschedule.
- TE Jordan Karhoff (Columbus, OH) is another good player where the bidding outpaced the evaluation. I do expect the staff to address this position at one point. Remember, tight end is historically a late-bloomer position with converted QBs, oversized WRs and basketball players. For example, basketball convert Gavin Mueller rose from a three star to the #5 TE in America as a senior.
- At this time of the calendar, and with the IPF under construction, the team has been in conditioning mode. The IPF opens up next week, and football drills will pick up at the same time. We will have buzz from those workouts as they happen. But I wanted to share one name who could be a breakout candidate- LB Bobby Pruitt. He's put on serious weight and is now a full-time linebacker after dabbling at safety last year. He has an opportunity to carve out a major role as that third linebacker behind Mo Toure and Chase Smith.
- There has been a lot of talk about numbers with this class. In the past, the discussion was always about scholarships. Now, it's salary. I expect the Canes to keep this class relatively small (20 players) in terms of NIL guys. That will give the staff flexibility to retain a loaded roster. They want a chance to develop their own young players.
But that doesn't mean they will only bring in 20 high school players. Don't be surprised if the Canes snatch some G5 prospects with limited NIL and full scholarships. This staff values senior film immensely and never stops evaluating.
- The story of this recruiting class right now is defensive end. If I had to place a wager, I'd bet on the Canes landing one of DJ Jacobs (Atlanta, GA) and Jaiden Bryant (Columbia, SC). Bryant is visiting this weekend and we remain in communication with Jacobs. The staff has prioritized the position, Jason Taylor's track record is established, and both five-stars have made multiple visits. There is an outside possibility, although not likely, that we could land both.
- Position-wise, I think the last spots will look something like this (in no order): DE, DT, LB, S, WR.
- The Canes would love to close the deal with WR Eli Woodard (Temecula, CA) this weekend. They have a chance to do so. They also love WR Tre Moore (Austin, TX). I could see this wrapping up soon one way or the other.
- At DT, the staff is eager to get an in-person look at DT DeMarco Jenkins (Houston, TX). Damione Lewis, a fellow Texan, is a huge advocate for Jenkins. This could move fast if the visit goes well.
- The LB board is the most wide-open on the team, aside from AJ Randle (Raleigh, NC). We have four linebackers scheduled to visit this week (Randle, Kaden Henderson, Noah Glover and Jalaythan Mayfield) one next week (Drew Williams) and one the following week (Aston Whiteside). Of all the remaining positions, this is the most unclear.
- The top target at safety appears to be Andre Hyppolyte (North Miami Beach). Jeff Bertani is the longest-tenured HS coach in Miami with a long history of NFL players, especially at defensive back. Those names include Kemal Ishmael (95 NFL games), EJ Biggers (92 NFL games), Johnathan Cyprien (79 NFL games) and Louis Delmas (78 NFL games). Coach Cristobal has tremendous respect for Bertani, and he coached Cyprien at FIU. Bertani speaks extremely highly about Hyppolyte, who is also playing QB this year.
Loia Valade (West Boca) is a good player but I don't think his price point made sense as a box safety. He is no longer visiting and not expected to reschedule.
- TE Jordan Karhoff (Columbus, OH) is another good player where the bidding outpaced the evaluation. I do expect the staff to address this position at one point. Remember, tight end is historically a late-bloomer position with converted QBs, oversized WRs and basketball players. For example, basketball convert Gavin Mueller rose from a three star to the #5 TE in America as a senior.
- At this time of the calendar, and with the IPF under construction, the team has been in conditioning mode. The IPF opens up next week, and football drills will pick up at the same time. We will have buzz from those workouts as they happen. But I wanted to share one name who could be a breakout candidate- LB Bobby Pruitt. He's put on serious weight and is now a full-time linebacker after dabbling at safety last year. He has an opportunity to carve out a major role as that third linebacker behind Mo Toure and Chase Smith.
