Going through spring practice last week, 2022 St. Thomas Aquinas OT Julian Armella got his first introduction to Miami Hurricanes recruiting when he met UM’s Director of Recruiting David “Pop” Cooney. It wasn’t long before Armella had a Miami offer in hand.
“I mean it was kind of a weird situation because we were just finishing practice, and my coach asked if Miami called,” Armella began. “I was like, ‘No coach they didn’t’, and he said ‘Well, by the way, you have an offer from Miami.’ And that was a big deal for me. The day before my dad was saying, ‘You’re getting all these offers, but where’s Miami at?’ So, it was crazy the next day I got Miami.”
You could say Armella has had an exciting spring so far. Last week was huge for the rising sophomore for the Raiders, as he landed offers from blue-blood programs such as Ohio State, Penn State, Alabama, and LSU in addition to Miami within days of each other.
“As a kid, I always told everyone that one day I’m going to be playing college ball, I’m going to be on your TV,” Armella said. “The dream is coming true now.”
Schools like Florida State, Florida, Michigan, Oregon, and Auburn were previously involved for the 6-6 290 pound lineman. One might wonder how such a young prospect is attracting so much attention so early, but for Armella, his domination of the off-season camp circuit speaks for itself.
“That’s where I kind of blew up I guess you could say,” Armella said of camp season. “The Opening, I did well, got into a little scrap with a guy. And then at Rivals, I won OL MVP over all the great offensive lineman that were there – (Marcus) Dumervil, Big Baby (Laurence Seymore) – all these highly recruited guys, and for a freshman to walk in there and get MVP, everyone was crazy about it.”
Although Armella goes to St. Thomas in Fort Lauderdale, he lives in Miami, so UM is even more of the local school in this recruitment and he plans to use his proximity to campus to his advantage.
“I’ll definitely be there more than once,” Armella said of UM. “I talk to Dumervil and I see all these guys, they can go to Miami more because it’s local. That’ll be one of the schools I can go to and just be on campus. I’ll be up there soon.”
Besides it being the hometown school, what is it about Miami that has Armella interested in rocking the orange and green?
“I grew up watching Miami, them being dominant with offensive line, defensive line, lately watching Mark Richt, all of that,” Armella said. “So, when I had an opportunity to get an offer from them and go play for them, take my talents there for maybe 3-4 years, it’s surreal. Just wow - it’s a blessing.”
Making things interesting in this recruitment is that Armella is an FSU legacy. His father, Enzo Armella, graduated from Miami Springs, and played at FSU from 1991-1995 as a guard. Enzo also started for the Noles’ 1993 national championship team when he was there, but Julian says Enzo doesn’t force FSU onto him when it comes to recruiting.
“I mean my dad is 100% open about my recruitment,” Armella said. “He told me, ‘Yeah, I’m an FSU legacy and I went there, but I want you to go wherever you feel is home. If you feel Alabama is home, Miami is home, I’m not going to do anything about it. You need to go where it feels home to you.’ He was a highly recruited guy too and he said FSU just felt like home. So that’s his advice to me.
“I’ve always liked a lot of different schools, but my dad was always all about FSU. He would always take me to their camps and stuff. I’ve been going there since maybe 7, 8 years old for camps, 1-on-1’s. So, I grew up basically on the campus. My dad having went there, he’s pretty known over there.”
Being so far from his signing day, Armella feels no pressure to rush his recruitment, and prefers to focus on developing relationships with the coaching staffs and improving his game. He has a tentative plan to be committed by the end of his junior year or beginning of his senior year, but admits that could change. However, when he does commit, he won’t keep looking around at others schools.
“I talked to my dad about it and he kind of pointed something out to me. He said, ‘When you commit these days, you need to make it mean something.’ So, whenever I do commit, I plan to shut everything down,” Armella said. “But at the same time, you never know what can happen. A coach can get fired, the recruiting staff can go to **** - anything can happen and you always want to keep your options open.”
Armella started 6 games at tackle as a freshman for St. Thomas in 2018, the first rookie to start on STA since Nick Bosa, the #2 pick in the 2019 NFL Draft last month. While the Raiders and Armella didn’t quite reach their goal of a state title last season, Armella (who will start at RT in 2019) is confident that this year’s group can get the job done.
“I love STA, it’s home for sure. Last year, we fell off at the end, made it to the state championship and lost to Lakeland. But it’s the past - whatever happened, happened,” Armella said. “But this year, I feel like we have an improved team, spring football is going great. The O-Line, we’re starting to get together, we have a bunch of new people that are going to provide for us and get us to that state championship. I’ve always been told you can’t have a sophomore slump, so my mentality going into sophomore season is I have dominate and ball out.”
“I mean it was kind of a weird situation because we were just finishing practice, and my coach asked if Miami called,” Armella began. “I was like, ‘No coach they didn’t’, and he said ‘Well, by the way, you have an offer from Miami.’ And that was a big deal for me. The day before my dad was saying, ‘You’re getting all these offers, but where’s Miami at?’ So, it was crazy the next day I got Miami.”
You could say Armella has had an exciting spring so far. Last week was huge for the rising sophomore for the Raiders, as he landed offers from blue-blood programs such as Ohio State, Penn State, Alabama, and LSU in addition to Miami within days of each other.
“As a kid, I always told everyone that one day I’m going to be playing college ball, I’m going to be on your TV,” Armella said. “The dream is coming true now.”
Schools like Florida State, Florida, Michigan, Oregon, and Auburn were previously involved for the 6-6 290 pound lineman. One might wonder how such a young prospect is attracting so much attention so early, but for Armella, his domination of the off-season camp circuit speaks for itself.
“That’s where I kind of blew up I guess you could say,” Armella said of camp season. “The Opening, I did well, got into a little scrap with a guy. And then at Rivals, I won OL MVP over all the great offensive lineman that were there – (Marcus) Dumervil, Big Baby (Laurence Seymore) – all these highly recruited guys, and for a freshman to walk in there and get MVP, everyone was crazy about it.”
Although Armella goes to St. Thomas in Fort Lauderdale, he lives in Miami, so UM is even more of the local school in this recruitment and he plans to use his proximity to campus to his advantage.
“I’ll definitely be there more than once,” Armella said of UM. “I talk to Dumervil and I see all these guys, they can go to Miami more because it’s local. That’ll be one of the schools I can go to and just be on campus. I’ll be up there soon.”
Besides it being the hometown school, what is it about Miami that has Armella interested in rocking the orange and green?
“I grew up watching Miami, them being dominant with offensive line, defensive line, lately watching Mark Richt, all of that,” Armella said. “So, when I had an opportunity to get an offer from them and go play for them, take my talents there for maybe 3-4 years, it’s surreal. Just wow - it’s a blessing.”
Making things interesting in this recruitment is that Armella is an FSU legacy. His father, Enzo Armella, graduated from Miami Springs, and played at FSU from 1991-1995 as a guard. Enzo also started for the Noles’ 1993 national championship team when he was there, but Julian says Enzo doesn’t force FSU onto him when it comes to recruiting.
“I mean my dad is 100% open about my recruitment,” Armella said. “He told me, ‘Yeah, I’m an FSU legacy and I went there, but I want you to go wherever you feel is home. If you feel Alabama is home, Miami is home, I’m not going to do anything about it. You need to go where it feels home to you.’ He was a highly recruited guy too and he said FSU just felt like home. So that’s his advice to me.
“I’ve always liked a lot of different schools, but my dad was always all about FSU. He would always take me to their camps and stuff. I’ve been going there since maybe 7, 8 years old for camps, 1-on-1’s. So, I grew up basically on the campus. My dad having went there, he’s pretty known over there.”
Being so far from his signing day, Armella feels no pressure to rush his recruitment, and prefers to focus on developing relationships with the coaching staffs and improving his game. He has a tentative plan to be committed by the end of his junior year or beginning of his senior year, but admits that could change. However, when he does commit, he won’t keep looking around at others schools.
“I talked to my dad about it and he kind of pointed something out to me. He said, ‘When you commit these days, you need to make it mean something.’ So, whenever I do commit, I plan to shut everything down,” Armella said. “But at the same time, you never know what can happen. A coach can get fired, the recruiting staff can go to **** - anything can happen and you always want to keep your options open.”
Armella started 6 games at tackle as a freshman for St. Thomas in 2018, the first rookie to start on STA since Nick Bosa, the #2 pick in the 2019 NFL Draft last month. While the Raiders and Armella didn’t quite reach their goal of a state title last season, Armella (who will start at RT in 2019) is confident that this year’s group can get the job done.
“I love STA, it’s home for sure. Last year, we fell off at the end, made it to the state championship and lost to Lakeland. But it’s the past - whatever happened, happened,” Armella said. “But this year, I feel like we have an improved team, spring football is going great. The O-Line, we’re starting to get together, we have a bunch of new people that are going to provide for us and get us to that state championship. I’ve always been told you can’t have a sophomore slump, so my mentality going into sophomore season is I have dominate and ball out.”