Miami stays hot on the recruiting trail, lands four-star 2026 TE Israel Briggs

Sebastian Font

Jun 24, 2025 2 min read

The Hurricanes have landed a consensus top-10 tight end in the 2026 class with Israel Briggs announcing his commitment this afternoon, making it four commits in four days for Miami’s 2026 class.

It came down to Miami and LSU for the four-star talent from California, who was previously committed to Arizona State before commiting in April.

At 6-foot-4 and 200 pounds, at the moment Briggs is essentially a jumbo-WR who will transition into a tight end with some added weight in college.

Briggs has consistently demonstrated natural hand catches which are followed by open field moves. Moreover he is very versatile, playing on both sides of the field showcasing his athleticism at multiple positions (he even kick returned for his high school team). And his talent really shined against national competition in the 7-on-7 scene , consistently making big plays and finding himself open. But Briggs was also a highlight machine, bringing down acrobatic contested catches at will.

Following his official visit, he spoke with me on how the staff planned to use him:

“I like how they used Elijah Arroyo, flexing him out, attaching, really can do all around, attack vertically,” said Briggs.

"I'm more of a route runner, I'm not gonna lie to you. I'm not gonna sit up here saying I'm a good blocker, that's where coach Woodiel will come in.”

And while they might not be the same physically yet, I can see Briggs developing into the role Arroyo thrived in last year — a nightmare matchup that can explode for big plays across the middle. (Keep in mind Arroyo came in at the same height and only ten pounds heavier than Briggs as a freshman).

Briggs was a priority for coach Woodiel and the staff, who were thrilled to beat the Tigers for his commitment. Again, this is a guy who can really open up the playbook for an offense with his route-running and matchup ability, a big time get.

With Briggs’ commitment the Hurricanes now have seventeen commits in the 2026 class as he joins QB Dereon Coleman, RB Javian Mallory, and WR Vance Spafford in the offensive skill position room.

“They call it tight end U for a reason!”

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Comments (163)

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gogeta4

Nov 26, 2025

Canedude08 said:
Who gives a **** about what the nation thinks about us? That said, the last time I checked, you can be a great football player and not be a complete idiot. It’s not a binary thing. The University has standards and I don’t understand why our “fans” have an issue with basic discipline.

I aint forget you from the AQM situation so leave this alone and pass on by. And I dont want a back an forth.

C
Canedude08

Nov 27, 2025

gogeta4 said:
I aint forget you from the AQM situation so leave this alone and pass on by. And I dont want a back a forth.

I don’t give a f**k what you want. Grow up and stop pretending that young people are incapable of behaving like civilized people. The bigotry of low expectations doesn’t fly with me.

gogeta4

Nov 27, 2025

Canedude08 said:
I don’t give a f**k what you want. Grow up and stop pretending that young people are incapable of behaving like civilized people. The bigotry of low expectations doesn’t fly with me.

Football isnt a civilized sport.

You getting fly out the mouth for someone on a moral high ground lol

*Keep in mind i made no comments on Isaiah Briggs right or wrong in what he did. So not sure where all this angst comes from other than you always on some protect the admin/hecht b.s

C
Canedude08

Nov 27, 2025

gogeta4 said:
Football isnt a civilized sport.

You getting fly out the mouth for someone on a moral high ground lol

*Keep in mind i made no comments on Isaiah Briggs right or wrong in what he did. So not sure where all this angst comes from other than you always on some protect the admin/hecht b.s

The reason I said what I said is because people like yourself don't understand rational thought, so I put it in a language you would feel comfortable with. The point of the matter was the same with AQM, and it rings true today: You can't run your program by trying to appeal to people that won't like you no matter what, but there needs to be an enforceable standard. You can't just throw your hands up and say "Hey, people will never like us, that means anything goes". That isn't acceptable. With this young man, if this is a first time thing, and there aren't any other red flags, you evaluate and go from there. That said, if this is the kind of guy that consistently does stupid crap, it may be time to cut bait.

gogeta4

Nov 27, 2025

Canedude08 said:
The reason I said what I said is because people like yourself don't understand rational thought, so I put it in a language you would feel comfortable with. The point of the matter was the same with AQM, and it rings true today: You can't run your program by trying to appeal to people that won't like you no matter what, but there needs to be an enforceable standard. You can't just throw your hands up and say "Hey, people will never like us, that means anything goes". That isn't acceptable. With this young man, if this is a first time thing, and there aren't any other red flags, you evaluate and go from there. That said, if this is the kind of guy that consistently does stupid crap, it may be time to cut bait.

The bolded is what has been done since we join the ACC and what i stated. THAT WAS THE SOLE POINT OF MY POST AND WHAT I SAID IS THE THOUGHT PROCESS THROUGHOUT THE NATION.
Your fake enforceable standard and hamstring yourself trying to sit at the cool table of dorks, and bowing down to ncaa beforehand of anything is the reason your athletics mainly football went to sh*t for 20+.

People like my self huh........

Apparently i don't understand rational thought?. lol

Calinative

Nov 27, 2025

Canedude08 said:
The reason I said what I said is because people like yourself don't understand rational thought, so I put it in a language you would feel comfortable with. The point of the matter was the same with AQM, and it rings true today: You can't run your program by trying to appeal to people that won't like you no matter what, but there needs to be an enforceable standard. You can't just throw your hands up and say "Hey, people will never like us, that means anything goes". That isn't acceptable. With this young man, if this is a first time thing, and there aren't any other red flags, you evaluate and go from there. That said, if this is the kind of guy that consistently does stupid crap, it may be time to cut bait.

Hasn't it been repeatedly stated by insiders that AQMs actions were fully justified?

westcoastcanes

Nov 27, 2025

Eww, should be a drop on name alone

Damiencane86

Nov 27, 2025

westcoastcanes said:
Eww, should be a drop on name alone

Dafuq

jdmorgan76

Nov 27, 2025

Thread is derailing lolz..

Sometimes people do things when they are young that they regret as they grow and develop as a person, luckily for many of us there weren't cameras and social media everywhere so it wasn't the same as today...

It doesn't really matter what any of us think about this situation in the end so I hope the young man uses it as an opportunity to grow and develop as a person...

C
Canedude08

Nov 27, 2025

Calinative said:
Hasn't it been repeatedly stated by insiders that AQMs actions were fully justified?

Even if it was justified(Which I’ve heard conflicting stories on the topic from people in the program), it happened and you were there. When you make iffy decisions, it can cost you, even if ultimately, you were “right”

Ashevegas Cane

Nov 27, 2025

Canedude08 said:
Even if it was justified(Which I’ve heard conflicting stories on the topic from people in the program), it happened and you were there. When you make iffy decisions, it can cost you, even if ultimately, you were “right”

Maybe I missed it as I don't read every post but why are you so wound tight?

flips

Nov 27, 2025

westcoastcanes said:
Eww, should be a drop on name alone

M
miami305

Nov 27, 2025

A man's frontal lobe, particularly the prefrontal cortex, continues to develop and typically reaches full maturity around the mid-to-late 20s, often cited as being around age 25. This part of the brain is responsible for complex functions like decision-making, planning, problem-solving, and impulse control.

JohnnyYoung

Nov 27, 2025

It won’t happen again, drop it.

C
Canedude08

Nov 27, 2025

Ashevegas Cane said:
Maybe I missed it as I don't read every post but why are you so wound tight?

It's not so much being wound tight, it's having expectations and not being a meathead. Then again, it's CIS, where logic and sanity go to die.

C
Canedude08

Nov 27, 2025

gogeta4 said:
The bolded is what has been done since we join the ACC and what i stated. THAT WAS THE SOLE POINT OF MY POST AND WHAT I SAID IS THE THOUGHT PROCESS THROUGHOUT THE NATION.
Your fake enforceable standard and hamstring yourself trying to sit at the cool table of dorks, and bowing down to ncaa beforehand of anything is the reason your athletics mainly football went to sh*t for 20+.

People like my self huh........

Apparently i don't understand rational thought?. lol

Apparently you don't get it and never will. Self awareness is key, we all know that the University of Miami has been under a microscope for the better part of 4 decades. Therefore, it's on the program and the people managing it to have a mindset of "we're going to do it cleaner and better than anyone else", because you can only control what you can control, and we will never get the benefit of the doubt. It was NEVER about making the NCAA(the nerds as you call them) happy, it was protecting ourselves the best we could.

A classic example of this phenomenon is our penalty situation on the field. We all understand that the refs live to call penalties on Miami, that's why it is infuriating when we commit obvious, preventable penalties because we know they will be called. We are under pressure to play as clean as possible, because the borderline calls will go against us. Not playing clean only serves to make the disadvantage even more pronounced.

Therefore, when you have knuckleheads doing extracurricular stuff, guys allowing themselves to be baited into personal fouls, and presnap stuff, it's even more of an issue than what it would be at other schools. It's also why when recruits do immature stuff, a conversation must be had. This program cannot afford to have student athletes with terrible impulse control, age be damned. I have faith that Mario and this staff have asked the right people the right questions about this young man, and if they trust what they are hearing, I'm fine with it.

C
Canedude08

Nov 27, 2025

JohnnyYoung said:
It won’t happen again, drop it.

If it's a one time issue, fine.

gogeta4

Nov 28, 2025

Ashevegas Cane said:
Maybe I missed it as I don't read every post but why are you so wound tight?

JohnnyYoung said:
It won’t happen again, drop it.

Canedude08 said:
Apparently you don't get it and never will. Self awareness is key, we all know that the University of Miami has been under a microscope for the better part of 4 decades. Therefore, it's on the program and the people managing it to have a mindset of "we're going to do it cleaner and better than anyone else", because you can only control what you can control, and we will never get the benefit of the doubt. It was NEVER about making the NCAA(the nerds as you call them) happy, it was protecting ourselves the best we could.

A classic example of this phenomenon is our penalty situation on the field. We all understand that the refs live to call penalties on Miami, that's why it is infuriating when we commit obvious, preventable penalties because we know they will be called. We are under pressure to play as clean as possible, because the borderline calls will go against us. Not playing clean only serves to make the disadvantage even more pronounced.

Therefore, when you have knuckleheads doing extracurricular stuff, guys allowing themselves to be baited into personal fouls, and presnap stuff, it's even more of an issue than what it would be at other schools. It's also why when recruits do immature stuff, a conversation must be had. This program cannot afford to have student athletes with terrible impulse control, age be damned. I have faith that Mario and this staff have asked the right people the right questions about this young man, and if they trust what they are hearing, I'm fine with it.

The nerds I'm talking about are the acc nerds. Not the ncaa. For some reason these d*cks think they will be on par with Duke, Stanford or Ivy League schools...Um aint on par with Uf so cut the sh8t. Your never gonna be at the cool dork table. This is why we get sh*tted on in conference cause they all want to play nice.

*They hired Mario and wouldnt even interview certain type of coaches......only to have an undiscipline team regardless...thats the sh*t i be talking about. Though Mario now is I guess building up a team but damnnnnnn....2 years in a row ****** off a good team. HC has an impulse control issue. lol

Nov 28, 2025

Canedude08 said:
The reason I said what I said is because people like yourself don't understand rational thought, so I put it in a language you would feel comfortable with. The point of the matter was the same with AQM, and it rings true today: You can't run your program by trying to appeal to people that won't like you no matter what, but there needs to be an enforceable standard. You can't just throw your hands up and say "Hey, people will never like us, that means anything goes". That isn't acceptable. With this young man, if this is a first time thing, and there aren't any other red flags, you evaluate and go from there. That said, if this is the kind of guy that consistently does stupid crap, it may be time to cut bait.

"Mark Richt played a major part in this (process)," Muhammad told New Orleans media after the draft. "After the situation that happened at the University of Miami, he didn't look at me any different, he welcomed me with open arms and I really appreciated that. It showed what type of guy he is. It showed me a lot about his character and what he is about.”

Saints coach Sean Payton also suggested that Canes coaches vouched for AQM, saying: "When you talk to those people at the school, they had a strong opinion about him in regards to football makeup. Certainly, he made some mistakes, but they were ones that we were very comfortable with. ... We sat for a good round and a half waiting on this selection."

Muhammad, who told New Orleans media that “I’m a **** of a pass rusher,” also expressed appreciation for UM defensive line coach Craig Kuligowski, former UM coach Al Golden and former UM assistants Mark D’Onofrio and Jethro Franklin. “They all stayed close to me, spoke to me and also told me to stay focused, keep working hard, do not make the same mistake twice and good things are going to happen,” Muhammad said. “I really just relied on the good support I had from the coaches that were around me, that believed and cared about me and loved me as the good person I am. That is pretty much what I relied on. They surrounded themselves around me and helped me. It’s definitely going to help me in the future.”

Nov 28, 2025

Canedude08 said:
The reason I said what I said is because people like yourself don't understand rational thought, so I put it in a language you would feel comfortable with. The point of the matter was the same with AQM, and it rings true today: You can't run your program by trying to appeal to people that won't like you no matter what, but there needs to be an enforceable standard. You can't just throw your hands up and say "Hey, people will never like us, that means anything goes".